


And they were roommates

by Radioactiveberry, white_carnations



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Case Fic, Choking, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Roommates, Slow Burn, Suicide, Violence, but so is nines lmao they're both a mess, gavin is an unreliable narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-08-23 20:42:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16626098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radioactiveberry/pseuds/Radioactiveberry, https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_carnations/pseuds/white_carnations
Summary: Gavin's short on cash and fucking lonely, his solution - find a roommate. Just so happens that this ends up being the only RK900 model in existence, who's main goal is to become a detective at the DPD. Now they're partners, struggling to get along and thrown headfirst into a homicide case.





	1. RK900

**Author's Note:**

> so I haven't written anything fictitious, let alone fanfic, in years but i desperately wanted to write something about these two idiots, hope you enjoy  
> also i have no idea how long this is going to be, i haven't really planned it out so we're gonna see how it goes and i'll add the necessary tags as they show up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I haven't written anything fictitious, let alone fanfic, in years but i desperately wanted to write something about these two idiots, hope you enjoy, sorry this is kinda short  
> also i have no idea how long this is going to be, i haven't really planned it out so we're gonna see how it goes and i'll add the necessary tags as they show up

Gavin lounges on his bed, staring at his laptop screen, slowly typing. He occasionally pauses to think. Furrowing his brows and digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, he lets out an exasperated sigh. Despite his job at the DPD, the rent isn’t cheap and debt is making money a lot tighter than he wants it. The idea of finding a roommate had been rattling around in his head for weeks, but he’d been pushing it to the back of his mind, telling himself it wasn’t necessary, that he was fine alone and albeit a little short of cash.

But he’s bored with living off own-brand ready meals, and if he’s being honest with himself, (which he isn’t) living alone kinda sucks.

So here he is, attempting to write an ad on a website specifically for finding roommates and although he does a lot of paperwork as a detective, he was still struggling with the complicated forms.

When he is finally satisfied with his ad, he hits the post button and closes his laptop, a bit more violent than necessary. Hauling himself up and off of the bed, he makes his way to the balcony and lights a cigarette. A small tabby cat rubs against his legs as he takes a drag, closing his eyes and sighing deeply.

God, he hopes the first person to reply isn’t an asshole.

-

Gavin’s exhausted when he gets home from work the next day. At least he wasn’t the only one in a shitty mood for once. Everyone in the precinct was on edge these days.The tense atmosphere had filled the bullpen, and many shouting matches had taken place, mostly between Hank and Gavin himself, all ending with either Fowler losing his shit or Hank’s plastic boy-toy stepping in to intervene.

Just as he settled on the sofa his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and unlocked it to check the notification. There was already a reply to his ad. The text was from an unknown number:

 

**Unknown Number:** _ Is this Gavin Reed? I am inquiring about the ad you put up for a roommate. _

 

He frowned at his phone, who the fuck texts that formally?

 

**Gavin:** _Yea, ur supposed to reply to the ad on the site idiot_

**Unknown Number:** _Your number was listed, and I thought texting was a much more direct approach._

**Gavin:** _Aight,_ _so like do u have a name or nah?_

**Unknown Number:** _My model number is RK900, but I go by the name Richard._

 

He quickly added the number to his contacts so he wouldn’t forget.

 

**Gavin:** _ Oh so ur an android? _

**Dick:** _Is that a problem?_

 

_ That’s what I’m asking myself,  _ he thought. He sat back and thought for a good five minutes and concluded that it wasn’t. His opinion had changed a lot since the revolution. He most definitely wasn’t an android fucker like Anderson, but he could be civil. As annoying as Connor is, it would be tough to argue that he’s faking his emotions - that android bled feelings. Frankly, he’d be lying if he said the whole revolution sparked no change of heart.

He spent a while texting back and forth with Richard. If this guy would potentially be living with him he should at least get to know him a little before he comes to his house. In that time he learnt that Richard isn’t adverse to cats, really likes action films (but purely so he can point out the inaccuracies,) and that he has a thing for tidiness. Gavin warned that the last part may be an issue, but Richard assured him that he rather enjoyed cleaning and he didn’t question it too much. 

They arranged for Richard to come to Gavin’s apartment the following evening as a sort of trial, but damn is he nervous. He lays in bed thinking about it, his cat sprawled across his stomach like some sort of living hot water bottle, blowing smoke into the darkness, the only light in the room being the glowing end of the cigarette. Yes, he’d learnt a couple things about the guy, but he really didn’t know much, for all Gavin knows he could be a serial killer, but he puts that down at paranoia and tries to forget about it.

RK900, huh? The vaguely familiar name rang alarm bells but he’d had a fucking busy day and his exhausted, caffeine riddled brain could not think straight to save his life, so he finished his cigarette and closed his eyes, letting sleep wash over him, listening to sound of soft purrs and distant traffic. 

-

The alarms bells made sense the minute he walked into the precinct the next day and was faced with the local android twink himself - RK800, better known as Connor. He’s a detective, so he really should have made the connection immediately but he blamed it on his constant state of sleep deprivation and didn’t dwell on it. So this guy that was coming to his house  _ tonight  _ was part of the RK series. The only two androids he knew from the same series were Connor and Marcus, which gave him no clues as the two androids had nothing in common apart from those two letters as far as he knew. Markus, the android that lead the bloody revolution, was custom made by Kamski and Connor was a detective model made specifically to hunt deviants. Not to mention they looked nothing alike unless you want to include the fact they’re both male, but Gavin doesn’t think that really counts. He decides he’s more likely to be similar to Connor due to the fact their numbers are closer, but what does the 900 mean? Was he some sort of upgrade? Connor was, after all just a prototype. 

Those thoughts occupied his mind for the majority of his work day, and the more he thought about it the more he dreaded going home to find out if the dumb imagery floating around in his head was accurate or not. He knows he could probably ask Connor, but for one, he doesn’t want to embarrass himself and two, he’s pretty sure that Connor still hasn’t 100% forgiven him for trying to beat him up in the evidence room. There’s also the fact he does not want to deal with the death glares he’ll get from Hank for going anywhere near his boy-toy even though last he remembers when he did try to beat Connor up he was the one left passed out on the fucking floor.

By the end of the day he’s jittery from way too much coffee and he’s driven himself crazy thinking about the potential that this dude might basically be Connor 2.0. When his shift ended he sucked it up, got into his truck and drove home, music blasting in an attempt to stop his brain from overthinking things more than it already has.

It’ll be fine, this is the first person he’s got a reply from, there’s a highly unlikely chance he’ll end up staying his roommate, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> white_carnations  
> [tumblr](https://c0ffee-gremlin.tumblr.com/)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/c0ffee_gremlin)  
>    
> Radioactiveberry  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/shrugsinchinese)


	2. Oh My God, They Were Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gavin thinks too much for his over-caffeinated brain to handle, Richard is a walking talking model and Gavin can't bring himself to say no to such a pretty face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here's chapter two, i'm really really happy people enjoyed the first chapter and hope you guys enjoy this one just as much  
> i also realize the first chapter was rather short and i tried to make this one a bit longer so enjoy

Richard’s going to be there in less than ten minutes and it’s safe to say he’s freaking out. He can’t remember the last time he actually had another person in his apartment apart from Tina bringing him home because he was too wasted to do it himself. Sitting on the sofa, he clenches and unclenches his jaw as he stares at the TV. It’s the news, so Gavin gives absolutely no shits about what they’re saying, fully aware that the stories they give are twisted in some way or another depending on what they want the general public to think.

The only thing he notices is the news reporter, she’s the exact same woman from the night of the revolution. He remembers that day vividly, well apart from when he was passed out in the evidence room. Before that Hank goddamn Anderson resigned, and while Gavin and Connor were having their little fight he’d punched that prick Perkins in the face. In fact, he’s rather disappointed he didn’t get to see it in person, although Tina had managed to get a very good video of the moment and Gavin smirked remembering the look of shock on the smug asshole’s face. At that point in time he was still on Perkins side and had quickly changed his smirk to a grimace.

His reasoning for hating the androids was the same as everyone else’s: they were taking their jobs. It was petty and came from a place of paranoia and insecurity. Androids could never take the place of humans, even with their deviancy everything they do is calculated, there’s little to no unpredictability, thinking outside the box isn’t really their speciality. That’s what Gavin excelled at, and although Connor told him that the fact most of what he did didn’t match up to any of his preconstructions probably wasn’t something to be proud of, Gavin just did what Gavin does best and told him to fuck off and took it in his stride. He was so unpredictable even a detective android couldn’t always tell what he was gonna do.

Although he denied it at first, deviancy changed everything, and Cyberlife’s ignorance to it was fucking inhumane at best. He remembers the night, Tina had helped him sort his shit out, while also taking the piss out of him for getting beaten up by a plastic, but that’s just how their friendship worked.  
  
Everyone in the station had watched the news in silence as the revolution took place. Gavin was sitting next to Tina as she insisted on checking for the millionth time that he hadn’t broken anything. When Markus and the other members of Jericho started singing, he couldn’t help the tears that formed in his eyes as he desperately tried to hide it with the ice he was holding against his black eye. It was all just so _human_. He remembers the sense of relief that washed over him and the rest of the station when President Warren ordered the military to stand down. He remembers the celebrations he didn’t involve himself in because his brain was at war with itself. He also remembers seeing Connor on that screen, he was one of the main reasons they’d won the public over when he’d woken up that army’s worth of androids and Gavin fucking smiled. Well, tried to, but gave up, wincing in pain and pushing the ice into his face with more force, partly to soothe and partly to try to cover up the tears that still threatened to fall. he was Gavin fucking Reed; he didn’t show any emotions apart from anger and he planned to keep it that way whether he felt sympathetic towards the androids or not.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a sharp knock on the door, dragging a hand down his face he took a deep breath to try and compose himself. Hauling himself off the sofa he makes his way to door, taking a few more deep breaths before he opens it, over-thinking all day has really not helped the situation let alone the stack of paperwork he was supposed to have done.

He opens the door and…

“Fuck.” 

_Wow Gavin, well done, what a good first impression._

“I believe the correct greeting is hello, Mr. Reed.”

Well, he was definitely right about one thing, this was an upgraded Connor alright, his face was disturbingly similar but he was taller with a bigger build and sharp, piercing blue eyes that bore into him when he made eye contact. Apart from that he was most definitely _not_ anything like Connor considering he looked like a rejected member of an emo band from the late 2000’s mixed with a fucking business man. Everything he was wearing was black; black skinny jeans, a black turtleneck and black boots that looked like they could crush Gavin in an instant. He had a couple piercings but just in his ears, Gavin didn’t even know androids could have piercings, they were probably just some sort of modification for their synthskin, the same goes for the inky black colour on his nails, which was perfect and lacked any of the chipping usually associated with nail polish.

Richard is staring at him with an icy glare waiting for a response and Gavin forces himself to keep it together. He doesn’t know the RK900’s purpose but if he was an upgraded version of Connor his only guess from his impression so far would be that they dropped the whole friendly approach and built something meant to intimidate. And if he was right fucking hell did they do a good job. He coughs weakly and tries to make sure his eyes weren’t as wide as he thought they were, but he knew all these attempts were useless since the goddamn android was probably already scanning his vitals, he hoped he just put it down as Gavin being nervous, which wasn’t _exactly_ wrong.

“Um… Hey, Richard right? Also none of that Mr. Reed bullshit, it’s just Gavin.” Richard gives a sharp nod, and he steps out of the way to let the tall android enter his house, closing the door behind him.

“I assume your shock is due to your familiarity with my predecessor?” Richard asks, eyes meeting Gavins. His intellectual way of speaking doesn’t quite match his appearance and Gavin trying his hardest to keep it together.

“Yeah, we work together I guess, sorta thought his face was one of a kind though, what’d they make you for, anyway?” He makes his was back to the sofa and Richard joins him on the opposite side, looking him up and down as if Gavin is some kind of prey and he swallows hard because yikes it’s that intimidating, if not kinda hot.

“I was built to be better, stronger and faster than my predecessor the RK800 so our purpose is rather similar, I was designed to be more resistant to deviation, but whoever was given that task did a rather shitty job,” He says matter-of-factly, gesturing to himself, “Because of the revolution Cyberlife never got the chance to release my line, so I was the only functional model. Markus found me in the Cyberlife tower shortly after androids were given their rights, so I’ve been deviant since my activation.”

“Harder, better, faster, stronger, so you’re basically a tank in the form of an android?” Despite feeling heavily intimidated Gavin’s not having a panic attack on the carpet, which he personally thinks deserves a mental pat on the back.

“I guess you could phrase it like that.”

“So, you have a job right?” As the words leave his mouth Gavin looks up, and he swears this stoic, professional-looking fucking android looks sheepish.

“Well, no, not right now.” He pauses, looking down and pulling at the ends of his sleeves and Gavin tries not to laugh at the fact that this absolute unit of an android is actually _anxious,_ until the full meaning of what Richard’s actually saying hits him. “No, not right now” means no money, which means he can’t pay rent. Why the fuck is the bloody thing here then?

“Wait, so you reply to my ad and arrange to come to my apartment, but you don’t have any fucking money?” There is a sharp tone of irritation is his voice and Richard looks up at him, LED spinning yellow for a few seconds before it returns to its usual blue.

“Please, just let me explain?” It seems as if the androids also had to mentally pull himself together as any sign of anxiety disappears in an instance. Gavin crosses his arms in annoyance.

“Go on then.”

“I have attempted many jobs since my activation, but as I was built to intimidate,” _Gavin fucking knew it_ , “A lot of people seem reluctant to hire me because I was not programmed to negotiate the same way the RK800 was. The jobs I have managed to get have not lasted particularly long. Turns out android models built to work for the government aren’t the best at customer service.” He chuckles lightly at his own misfortune and Gavin feels just a little bit sorry for him.

“So why are you here if you can’t pay rent?” Gavin wants to sound impatient but even he can recognize the rare hint of sympathy that laces his voice and Richard seems to relax a bit, a small smile reaching his lips.

“There are a few reasons, the main one being that if I don’t find somewhere else to live by the end of this month, I will by definition be homeless.”

“Can’t you go to Jericho?” Gavin asks skeptically, and the android lets out a sigh.

“Do you really think I want to spend my time surrounded by however many other people? I was not designed to be sociable and even deviancy has not changed that part of me, so even though it is an option I would prefer not to resort to it for my own comfort.” Gavin nods in understanding, he hates people and thinks being in the bullpen all day with the other detectives and officers is bad enough. He’s seen the size of Jericho and can’t fathom being around that many people daily and motions for Richard to continue.

“You also mentioned you were not a tidy person but I am what human refer to as a ‘neat freak’ therefore I would gladly maintain the house. I do not require food so that is another thing you will not need to worry about.” Gavin contemplates his offer, scratching at the stubble on his face as he thinks. He really wouldn’t mind having someone around to keep the house tidy, and offer company, but...

“That still doesn’t solve the money situation.” He states, but Richard does not look concerned, and he waits for a reply.

“Well that is my final reason, you work for the DPD correct?” Gavin nods although he’s not sure why the android is checking when he’s obviously already certain of it, “As you’re now aware I was built for detective work and I see no reason to not pursue that career. However, I do not think marching straight into the DPD and asking for a job was the right way to go about it even though I do not require training.”

“Hang on,” Gavin says, stopping him halfway through his explanation, “So you want _me_ to get _you_ a job?” Richard nods like it’s a perfectly acceptable idea.

“Don’t you androids have weird communication shit, surely you could've just contacted Connor?”

“My predecessor is not currently aware of my existence, I was hoping you could explain the situation to him and perhaps he could try to convince your boss.” _Fucking hell._ An android built for combat comes to his fucking apartment looking like some sort of model and asks him to get him a job. Gavin looks up at the android because he has to to make eye contact because he’s so _goddamn tall_ and the icy blue eyes that bore into his fucking soul when he opened the door earlier are filled with so much hope Gavin doesn’t quite understand why he couldn’t keep a job anywhere else. He internally says fuck it and caves right there and then. This might end really badly but he’s sick of being fucking bored and Fowler does keep bothering him about the fact he doesn’t have a partner…

“Alright Dick whatever, I’ll try but I ain’t promising shit, Connor doesn’t exactly like me and Fowler hates literally everyone but I’ll try.”

“I’d prefer if you refrained from using the shortened version of my name.”

“Well, Richard’s a fucking obnoxious name, and it’s too long.” He looks at Richard defiantly like some sort of challenge.

“I don’t quite see how two syllables is too much for you but if you insist I also go by Nines.”

 _Nines_ Gavin repeats it a few times in his head, he likes that much better.

“Alright Nines, you can stay for now but the minute you piss me off you’re fucking out of here, okay?” Gavin tries to sound threatening but fails horribly, and Nines just nods and smiles at him.

 _Maybe this will actually work out_ he thinks to himself as he turns towards the TV to try and find something more interesting than the news to occupy them both for the rest of the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this dumb fic 
> 
> white_carnations
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](https://c0ffee-gremlin.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/c0ffee_gremlin)
> 
> Radioactiveberry
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/shrugsinchinese)


	3. The First Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some bonding time (aka Gavin literally can't concentrate because he keeps staring at Nines.) Also there's some stuff from Nines perspective in this chapter, yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is getting a lot more attention than i thought it would and i wanted to thank you all for the kind comments! if you wanna talk to me you can also message me on my tumblr or twitter, i'd love to talk to any fellow dbh fans
> 
> also nines is only referred to as nines in gavins parts since richard is the name he's given himself so yeah

While flicking through the channels he’d found some random action film that looked like it had an awful budget, remembering Nines’ comment from the day before he left it on and Nines hadn’t complained. Instead, now and then he’d make a comment about how ridiculous something was:

“I have calculated that the stunt that man just pulled would be almost impossible in real life, and there is no way he would of accurately been able to aim his gun whilst in that position.” He states and Gavin looks over to the androids confused face, his brows are furrowed and his led is spinning yellow, probably trying to calculate more probabilities.

“It’s not actually possible you idiot, but it looks fucking badass.” Gavin replies, suppressing a snigger as he watches Nine’s face turn from confusion to disgust as something he must consider even more absurd happens on screen. His comments continue for the rest of the film, occasionally he’ll raise his voice slightly and when something really bothers him he’ll look over at Gavin as if to say ‘what the actual fuck’ while expressively gesturing towards the screen and at some point he notices a smile managed to creep onto his face without his knowledge.

Shit.

He’s actually having a good time, and he hates himself for being so worried about this. Nines doesn’t seem half bad so far, so he fucking hopes he doesn’t somehow manage to ruin it like he does with everyone else in his life. His only friend at this point is Tina, the root of their bond being the same hatred for the rest of the human race. He doesn’t really have any other friends. He’d trusted way too many people in the past and it always ended horribly, so he’s naturally learnt to build up walls - after all, it’s better to be hated than constantly in a state of paranoia that people you care about are going to let you down, right?

When Nines isn’t looking he takes the opportunity to observe him a bit more. Part of his brain knows that the android is probably well aware that he’s staring but he tells that part of his brain to fuck off because he can’t help himself and if the fucker really has an issue, he’ll say something. Nines looks rather relaxed, which is a good sign. He’s sitting rather casually with his right foot resting on his knee and his left arm resting on the armrest, his led stuck on yellow for the majority of the film, rarely switching back to blue as he tries to calculate how impossible all the stunts are.

The only things in the film that interested Gavin were the explosions and the hot guy who’s playing the main character, there quite a few movie inaccuracies, but he’s not too bothered by the bad plot; he considers himself immune to those due to amount of bullshit storyline he’s been exposed to, the main one being his life. But Nines is new, he’s been alive for less than a year and he thinks it’s perfectly fair for someone basically programmed to be a perfectionist to be irritated by these things. What Gavin doesn’t think is fair is how attractive he thinks he is, he’s supposed to become his roommate, not his fuck buddy for god’s sake. He tries desperately to control his own brain, wasn’t it just yesterday he was telling himself he wasn’t some sort of android fucker like Anderson? It’s not his fault that some weirdo at Cyberlife decided a detective model should be attractive; they didn’t need to be attractive and they certainly didn’t need all those fucking muscles when they didn’t actually affect the androids level of strength in any way. It was also not his fault that this guy who he spoke to for the first time literally yesterday decided to turn up to his house in near enough skin tight clothes. The android’s fashion choices gave Gavin cringey flashbacks to highschool but Nines pulled off the look effortlessly. Thankfully, he wasn’t sporting the ridiculous amount of black eyeliner also associated with those flashbacks.

Although he had to admit that he was just a little attracted to this guy it was also still undoubtedly unsettling that his face was pretty much identical to Connor’s. He focused on that thought because god damn did he need to stop staring otherwise it was going to  come off as super fucking creepy. Plus, Nines was way out of his league, Gavin wasn’t even sure why he was still here, why he didn’t take one look at him think ‘gross’ then leave immediately after.

He mocked himself internally because past Gavin saw himself as above all the plastics and would of been disgusted by even the idea of being friends with an android let alone fucking one. Now he’s sat here next to an android he’s just met who is most likely going to become his roommate and he’s contemplating whether or not he’s good enough to even think about trying to get in his pants. Although, when he really thinks about it it’s just another form of objectification and android hater or not he’s still a complete asshole and he’s well aware of it. He forced himself to turn towards the TV and pay attention for the rest of the duration of the film.

At least the hot actors were a distraction from the hot android on the other side of his sofa.

When Gavin looked over at Nines again, he discovered that at some point his cat had decided to become acquainted with the new addition and was curled up in his lap as he stroked her back mechanically. Gavin couldn’t help but notice the android’s long fingers that can easily slide up his…

GROSS, WHAT THE FUCK GAVIN!

He mentally kicked himself for being so horny all the time, closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath, bringing his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose to nurse a headache. If he couldn’t keep his shit together the stress was most definitely going to give him one. Shifting his gaze from his cat to the androids face, he sees Nines is looking straight back at him and he has to do his best not to let his fight-or-flight instincts take over because he most definitely would be halfway through jumping out the window by this point. That’s one thing him and Hank seem to have in common, the ideology that ignoring your problems is the best way to deal with them - if you don’t acknowledge them they’re not real. That is until it all catches up with you and they problem is probably ten times worse than it was in the first place, but Gavin’s a sucker for unhealthy coping mechanisms.

That reminds him, he hasn’t had a cigarette since lunch, which is not helping his overactive mind; he wishes it’d go a little slower. He desperately craves therush of nicotine washing over him, he can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to process things as fast as an android. On the other hand, he assumes those perfect plastic fucks are used to being more intelligent than any human is capable of.

He’s aware of his fingers twitching and how his knee unconsciously starts bouncing up and down out of habit, he knows he needs to smoke but he’s stubborn and he refuses to make any more of a bad impression on this guy than he already has by just existing so he uses all his willpower to suppress the craving, he’ll have a smoke in his bed before he sleeps later.

-

All things considered, Richard thought the evening had been relatively successful so far, he wouldn’t necessarily describe Gavin as welcoming but he also wouldn’t say he was unwelcoming either. Despite his initial apprehension Gavin had agreed to his proposal without much convincing, which was good for Richard as he knew from past experience he wasn’t very skilled in negotiation.

The first thing Richard had noted is that Gavin Reed is a very confusing human to read, which in his opinion makes things more interesting but also more complicated as his unpredictability makes it difficult to preconstruct what the human is going to do next. His body language was a weird mix of aggression, stress and signs of anxiety. However, ignoring what Richard would consider excessive swearing, he had been fairly polite. When he entered the apartment, his analysis of the air instantly told him that it contained a high traces of cigarette smoke and a scan of the contents of his kitchen cupboards informed him the man kept a large supply of coffee. This was the simplest explanation for his odd behaviour and Richard chose to leave it at that, focusing on getting acquainted with him instead. His goal was, after all, to befriend the detective, not psychoanalyse his whole life. He also got the impression Gavin would not appreciate him analysing every square inch of his apartment so he tried his best to refrain from scanning anything else apart from the humans vitals.

Of course he was aware Gavin was staring at him at multiple times throughout the film but he couldn’t decide why, it was most likely due to his resemblance to his predecessor - as far as Gavin had known his predecessor was the only android with his likeness so he understood why his appearance may be difficult to take in. There was no way to be certain without asking but he decided bringing it up would not be a smart idea and he did not want to risk irritating or embarrassing him as he was likely unaware that the android knew he was staring.

Emotions were still relatively new to him considering he’d only been alive for a few months, but he determined that the slight twisting feeling in his metaphorical stomach when Gavin remembered his comment about his preferred film genre was a good one. The film was awful, but he did enjoyed it thoroughly; he found the humans affinity for unrealistic situations both amusing and interesting.

Near the end of the film, what must have been Gavin’s cat entered the living room and found its way onto his lap by incessantly head-butting his arm until he moved it out of the way. Richard had seen a few cats in his few months of being alive so far but he’d never actually been this close to one before, his sensors automatically scanned the creature as it curled up, already leaving traces of cat hair on his clothes:   
**  
****\- ANALYSIS COMPLETE -** **  
****  
** **Species: Feline**

**Breed: Domestic Shorthair**

**Sex: Female**

**Coat: Tabby**

**Age: 5 Years**

**Micro-chipped- 3 years prior** ****__  
  
The information wasn’t particularly interesting and did not provide a name for the feline; there was no collar to indicate a name which implied that she was a house cat, a smart choice considering the amount of traffic outside the apartment. The said cat started head-butting him again, and assuming she wanted to be stroked, he did exactly that. Her fur was short but extremely soft against the sensors in his fingers. He repeatedly stroked from her head all the way to the end of her tail, deciding that he rather enjoyed the sensation accompanied by the creature’s soft purrs.

He turned to ask what the cat was called to find Gavin looking at the feline in his lap but it didn’t take him long to look up at him. Using the few seconds as an opportunity, he studied the intricacies of the human’s face. The most obvious feature was the diagonal scar across his nose, there were also many other smaller, less noticeable scars littered across his countenance and Richard deduced that Gavin Reed was either very careless or very clumsy, perhaps both. His eyes were a stony grey and a quick search told him that this was considered extremely rare in humans as only 3% of the population shared the same eye colour. Other notable features included his slight stubble which he likely kept to appear more masculine, the tuft of hair curling over his forehead in the opposite direction to his own and the large bags under his eyes probably caused by lack of sleep coupled with stress and excessive consumption of caffeine.

From his small amount of analysis so far Richard came to the conclusion that Gavin did not look after himself properly and likely didn’t care much for self preservation. Some urge inside of him made him want to fix that, to make him better, but that was not his current goal, currently he had to focus on getting a job and not becoming homeless. Attempting to promote a healthier lifestyle may infuriate him which would not help him in attaining his goal.

They had been staring at each other for approximately twenty seconds when Gavin finally broke the silence.

“What are you looking at jackass?” Gavin’s voice is only slightly raised; he sounded more defensive than angry.

“I feel like the answer to that question is rather obvious, but I would like to point out you were also looking at me for the same amount of time.” Richard replied calmly, always the one to state the facts.

Gavin opens his mouth to reply and goes to close it again, a slight blush starts to form on his cheeks and Richard can’t quite work out why.

Eventually Gavin replies.

“Did you actually want something then?” He lifts a hand to scratch the back off his neck, Richard’s programme for body language analysis tells him this could be a sign that the human was uncomfortable.

“I wanted to enquire about the name of your cat.”

Almost instantly his body language changed again, at the mention of the animal a smirk spread across his face and he reached over to give the cat a quick scratch on her tiny head.

“Her name’s Dipshit.” He said simply, Dipshit’s ears perked up at the sound of her own name but didn’t make an effort to move or even look at her owner.

“That seems like a rather cruel thing to name your pet.” He says, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Says the guy who named himself Dick.” Gavin’s smirk transforms into a grin, his immature sense of humour displeases him.

“My name is Richard.” He narrows his eyes just the slightest and clenches his jaw, glaring,  challenging the man to continue mocking him.

Gavin raises his hands in mock defense, smile not leaving his lips.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop, just don’t go all “Terminator” and murder me, kay?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, you’re my way of getting into the DPD, but that does not mean I will force myself to be nice to you.”

“That’s perfectly fine by me, Connor’s a suck up and I fucking hate it, I don’t see why he feels the need to be so nice all the fucking time.”

“I don’t see why you should have an issue with someone being nice Gavin.”

Gavin gets up from the sofa, waving a dismissing hand at him.

“Whatever you wouldn’t understand, anyway it’s getting late, I’m gonna shower and head to bed, spare room is the first one on the right.”

“As an android I do not need to sleep but I appreciate having my own space, thank you.” He replies genuinely and tries to convey that in his facial expression, it must have been effective because Gavin smiles back at him and that twisting feeling returns.

After Gavin leaves Richard stays stroking the cat until it leaves of its own accord. Once he has both tried and failed to rid his clothes of cat hair he gets up to find the spare room. First door on the right, that’s what Gavin had said.

The room is a rectangular shape and rather small but that doesn’t bother him. Each wall is painted a cool shade of light grey, he notes that the tone is similar to that of Gavin’s eyes. There is a singular window in the middle of the wall opposite the door and the only furniture in the room is a double bed with a black metal frame and plain white sheets. A layer of dust coated the bed frame and the windowsill, something he would be getting rid of first thing tomorrow as well as cleaning the rest of the house if Gavin let him.

He can’t stand untidiness.

Situating himself so he can look out of the window, he watched the cars drive past, their bright white headlights interrupting the warm light being emitted from the streetlights that creates a subtle wash of light over the whole street. He watches until his scans tell him Gavin is asleep and he initiates stasis as a warm smile forms on his lips. Gavin may appear to be an asshole, this might just work.

His feelings are new and he doesn’t quite understand them but he can tell he has a good feeling about this, he just hopes he’s right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading as usual
> 
> if you like our work please consider commenting or leaving kudos  
>    
> white_carnations  
> [tumblr](https://c0ffee-gremlin.tumblr.com/)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/c0ffee_gremlin)  
>    
> Radioactiveberry  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/shrugsinchinese)


	4. Gunpowder, Treason and Plot… Minus The Gunpowder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin can't sleep because he's thinking about android ass, Richard is starting to realize how much of an ass Gavin is and Gavin hatches a plan to get Richard a job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school is keeping me real busy right now so i'm gonna aim to post a chapter about once a week from now on
> 
> but i'm really happy with this chapter so i hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> as always, if you wanna talk about anything you can message me on my tumblr or twitter which are linked at the end

Rubbing his tired eyes, Gavin pats his bedside table aimlessly until he finds his phone. He squints when the bright light of the screen interrupts the surrounding darkness. It takes him a second to adjust to the sudden change but eventually he’s able to see the large numbers in the centre of the screen.

_ 2AM. Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful. _

His dumb fucking brain did this often, apparently waking up at early hours of the morning was something his subconscious thought he  _ needed  _ to do. He wouldn't be so bothered but there was no way he'd be able to get back to sleep now. Maybe he’d drift in and out of consciousness, but it wouldn’t be real sleep 

Accepting his fate, he reached over to his desk for a cigarette and went over the events of the evening in his head. That’s right, he now has a complicated toaster as a roommate and he’d spent most of the evening eyeing him up while he wasn’t looking. A complicated toaster with a pretty face and a whole lotta fake muscle.

Lighting the cigarette dangling from his mouth, he tried to think of something else. It was helpless. Yea, he didn’t hate androids anymore, he’d accepted that, but he couldn't fuck one. Nope, it wasn’t going to happen. Gavin Reed fucking an android? Complete absurdity. They may have feelings but they’re still made of - Actually, he’s not quite sure what they’re made of, but it’s not flesh and blood and it still creeps him out. Creating sentient life was always an awful idea, jeez, had Eli never watched a sci-fi film?

He wondered how his half brother was doing but quickly decided he didn’t care. The fucker probably didn’t even give him a second thought in his day to day life so he wasn’t gonna waste his time.

Smoke quickly filled his room like his own personal mist. It swirled in pretty patterns as he breathed it out. Odd how he thought such a deadly thing was pretty, but that just about summed up his thought process in most situations. Danger was fun, it’s part of the reason he became a detective, that and he wanted to help people. Eighteen year old Gavin was much more excited about the danger aspect though.

The only light was coming from the streetlights and a dim glow filled his room. He chewed on the butt of his cigarette in frustration; the android’s stupid face was still in the forefront of his mind. His own brain was against him and there’s nothing he could do about it so he took another long drag, preparing himself for a long rest of his night. Time always seemed to drag at the most convenient times, and this was one of them.

**-**

Richard comes out of stasis to find that Gavin’s cat (he refuses to call the poor thing Dipshit)  has once again deemed his lap the perfect place to sleep. He must not have closed the door properly, not that there was any reason he needed to, he didn't do anything that required privacy.

Sinking his fingers into her soft fur he let out a long exhale. Despite not needing to breathe he found more human habits slipping into his patterns of behaviour as each day went by. 

His sensors alerted him to an approaching heat signature before he heard the gentle knock on the slightly ajar door.

“You awake, tincan?” Gavin’s voice was rough with sleep, and although alarm bells rang in Richards mind at the use of the slur he detected no malicious intent in the man’s tone and chose to ignore it. 

The cat had vacated his lap at the sound of Gavin’s voice so instead of replying he made his way to the bedroom door to greet him.

“Good morning Gavin.” He said politely, a server lack of any emotion in his voice as usual - his social modules had been dialed back in light of his predecessor's ‘failures.’ 

The detective had quite clearly only just gotten up, evident from his unkempt appearance, since when had checking on him become his priority? After all, he’s only known him for less than a day. Maybe, behind the unsolicited insults he’s more polite than Richard’s first impression of the human has lead him to believe. 

“Uh, yeah, mornin’,” He attempts to stifle a yawn but fails miserably, his mouth opening wide like a roaring lion. Except Gavin was nothing like a lion, he thought, if anything he reminded him a raccoon considering what he knew of him so far. Mischievous, a bit of an asshole and unperturbed by excessive amounts of mess, a perfect fit.   

While Richard waits for him to finish he  wonders why Gavin’s seems to lack basic social skills. His job as a detective means he would be required to talk to a large variety of people on a regular basis. 

He takes a second to set himself a mission and the task ‘ **Observe Gavin’s behaviour in social situations** ’ appears in his peripherals, right underneath ‘ **Get a job at the DPD** ’ and ‘ **Befriend Detective Gavin Reed.** ’ 

There is really no  reason for him to set missions like this but some part of his core programming still makes it incredibly satisfying to accomplish them. Then again, satisfaction is something he wouldn’t have been able to experience pre-deviancy so maybe it’s just who he is. 

“So did you sleep well?” 

Gavin’s voice cuts through his thoughts. Well, more like the analysis results informing him of the traces of cigarette smoke on his breath. 

“Androids don’t sleep Gavin, I thought that was common knowledge.”

“Well, what did you do all night then?”

“I was in stasis.” The small human just looks at him, slack-jawed as he takes a moment to close his eyes and slowly, exaggeratedly inhaling and then exhaling. Richards finds it ludicrous that Gavin is the one exasperated with him.   

“Isn’t that just sleeping?” 

Richard stares at him, unblinking.

“No.” He replies bluntly, and Gavin just rolls his eyes.

Richard is not impressed, LED flashing vibrant red for just a split second as he grinds his teeth together before he composes himself.

He reminds himself that he has to get along with Gavin, and that it's currently his only way of getting into the DPD.

“Whatever, it’s too early for this shit, I need coffee.” He says dismissively, leaving Richard at the doorway to his own room.

Following Gavin to the kitchen, he stands at a distance, silent and observing. In his personal opinion, his features might better suit a spy model than a detective model, but there was no way to prove his suspicions. He didn’t need to know anyway, it didn’t matter anymore. 

He watches as Gavin prioritises feeding the cat that had been meowing and rubbing against the man’s ankles since she’d left Richard’s lap. It isn’t until he makes a start on feeding himself that he notices Richard.

“Are you really gonna stand there and watch me like some creep?” He asks incredulously. 

“What else would you suggest I do?” 

“I dunno, maybe you could make me breakfast?” 

There’s a hint of hope in the human’s voice and Richard feels a scowl cross his lips without meaning to. He raises his eyebrows at the ludicrous suggestion, crossing his arms in mild irritation. Gavin seems to squirm under gaze, refusing to make direct eye contact.

“Just an idea, no need to look at me like you wanna murder me.” 

“I’m am neither your maid nor your mother, Reed.” It is at this point he realises Gavin isn’t actually making breakfast as he goes to leave the kitchen with just a cup of coffee in hand. “Although you really should have breakfast, it would not be good to go to work on an empty stomach.”

“Coffee’s just as good as breakfast, and I thought I told you to call me Gavin, asshole.”

Richard chooses to ignore the second half of his statement.

“Coffee does not contain anywhere near the same amount of sustenance a proper meal would provide.”

Gavin waves off his concerns as he makes his way to the front room. Richard follows and they sat in silence with the news on as background noise. Gavin sips his coffee and although his eyes do not leave the screen, his vacant stare indicated that he was not paying attention to what the news reporter is saying. 

Saying Gavin’s apartment was a mess would most definitely be an understatement. Everything in the apartment that hadn’t been recently moved was covered in a layer of dust, there was a very large pile of dishes in the kitchen that had clearly been building up for a while and there was a severe lack of organisation when it came to his personal possessions. He grimaced, but he’d already accepted the fact that Gavin did not care for cleanliness before he’d even met the man so he had no right to complain about it. Therefore, despite his earlier statement in regards to not being the human’s maid, he would have to take it upon himself to keep the place clean. He does recall himself saying he’d happily do it after all.

-

Gavin walked into the precinct, beelining straight for his desk. He was not in the mood to talk to anyone. He was neither a morning nor people person, and those two things combined made him an extremely volatile person any time before noon. After that he still wasn't what you could consider pleasant to be around.

Coffee had done little to help his exhaustion. It doesn’t really give him energy anymore, it just became a necessary part of his life.

Yea, he’s probably addicted, and no, he didn’t care. As long as he wasn’t dying his health didn’t concern him.

Most of his morning was spent doing paperwork. Or at least trying to, his eyelids felt like they were being weighed down and he was worried they wouldn’t stay open for much longer. He could not deal with another bollocking from Fowler, and it was hard enough not to argue on his best days. This was part of the reason he had so many disciplinaries in his file, other than the fact that he currently holds the title of the precincts biggest asshole and he does his best to live up to it. 

It was much better being hated than being liked, it meant he could get on with his work in peace. After all, he’d joined the DPD to get to the top, not make friends, and Anderson’s a Lieutenant while he’s still stuck as a Detective. He thought he would have at least made Sergeant by now, but here he is, stuck underneath a drunk, washed-up old man. Gavin was pretty sure he’s still Lieutenant because of his role in the revolution, but that was just a theory. He knew he was biased and bitter over the fact his hero turned into an alcoholic who struggled to turn up to work on time until the robo-twink turned up, but as usual, Gavin struggled to look past his own emotions.

Glancing over at the android on the other side of the bullpen he cursed under his breath.  _ Fucking androids.  _ Yes, he had to admit Connor had a pretty face but he sure as hell isn’t attracted to the fucking plastic prick; so why the hell had he spent half the night thinking about his upgrade? 

_ Stupid fucking android with his stupid perfect face and his stupid tight-fitting clothes and ugh-  _

Gavin let out a quiet groan, putting his face in his hands. 

He’d have to get up and talk to Connor at some point, he’d promised Nines he would. 

But only so he’d help pay his rent. That’s what all this was about after all. Not Gavin’s crippling loneliness. Nope, that wasn’t a problem at all.  

No matter how much he stared at his terminal his brain still struggled to process any of the information he was looking at. It was frustrating to say the least. More than once he’d resorted to kicking his feet up on the desk and playing solitaire on his phone just to stop him from going crazy.

Eventually he got fed up; he couldn’t keep working like this it was the opposite of affective.

He waited until Connor went to the break room to force himself up from his chair. The desk chairs in the precinct was one of the things he was truly thankful for; sitting doing paperwork all day was bad enough without having to deal with being uncomfortable.  

Waiting for Connor to leave his desk to talk to him wasn’t exactly necessary but Gavin did not and could not deal with getting shit from Hank for even going near his precious plastic partner. When he got there Connor was, as expected, making Hank’s coffee -  _ the lucky fucker.  _

Sidling up to him, he waited until Connor turned towards him, his neutral expression quickly turning into one of confusion at Gavin’s presence.

“Detective Reed, do you require my assistance with something?”

Turning to lean against the worktop he flashed the biggest, cockiest grin he could muster with the little energy he currently possessed. Even though internally he was quite nervous he needed to maintain his asshole persona.

“Kinda, it’s not really for me, more of a favour for a friend.” Connor’s confusion only seems to increase, as if the idea of Gavin having a friend is more absurd than him asking Connor for a favour. He’d be offended if it wasn’t true, but he wasn’t going to tell him that. 

“Who is this friend?”

“His name’s Dick.”

Connor looks at him quizzically.

“Is it now?”

“Well, no, it’s Richard but who calls themselves that and doesn’t expect to be called Dick for the rest of their lives.”

Connor shook his head at him, clearly choosing to ignore Gavin’s immaturity. “What’s Richard like?”

Gavin’s grin somehow manages to widen even more, becoming wolfish. 

“You know, I think you two would get along, you have a lot in common.” Gavin tries his best not to lose it right on the spot, “For one, you’re both fucking neat freaks.”

Connor’s attitude changes, confusion replaced with intrigue. That’s androids for you, always fucking curious, no wonder Hank compares him to a dog.

“Oi, Reed, what the fuck are you doing?” Speak of the fucking devil, Hank is stood at the entrance to the break room looking far from impressed.

“What? Am I not allowed to have a civil conversation with Connor, or does fucking him mean you’re the only one who’s allowed to talk to him?” 

Hank looks rather flustered, which is enough proof for Gavin, but he decides now is not the time to pry if he actually wants Connor’s help.

“So Connor, this android-

“Android?” Connor sounds inquisitive but his LED is circling yellow, clearly his words were taking a while to process. 

On the other hand, Hank seemed completely taken aback.

Gavin’s confidence grew a little more, he couldn’t see himself right now but he was pretty sure his expression was the definition of smug. “Yea, that’s right, I said android, he even looks kinda like you.” He motions towards Connor as he speaks.

Connor’s face is a lot more serious now.

“What model?”

“Can’t remember.” Connor knows he’s lying, but if he knows that he also knows that Gavin isn’t going to tell him the truth. Gavin is enjoying this way, way too much.

“Wait… Just wait, are you telling me Gavin Anti-Android Reed is now  _ friends  _ with an android? How’d that happen, did this one beat you up too?” Hank thought he was hilarious, Gavin did not.

He could feel his confidence deplete slightly as he felt a slight blush burning on his cheeks, he’d forgotten no one else actually knew he didn’t hate the tincan’s on legs anymore. 

“We seem to have strayed from the main topic of conversation.” Connor stated, saving Gavin from having to come up with a come back on the spot.

“Yes, it seems we have.” His grin is back and it’s aimed straight at Hank who is looking just as frustrated as when he first entered the conversation. Deciding Connor isn’t actually in any kind of danger, he picks up his coffee mug and leaves the two alone. 

“What does this guy want then?” Connor questions, trying to get to the point of the conversation.

“He wants a job at the DPD, thought you could help since you’re both androids.” For once Gavin is actually straightforward, seeing no reason to skirt around this detail.

“Well, can you get him to come to the precinct?”

Oh, this is  _ perfect. _

“Sure, I’ll text him to come down later this afternoon.”

Throughout their conversation he’s been making his own cup of coffee. After giving it one last stir, he chucks the spoon in the sink, leaving the android standing there. All things considered, he’s rather satisfied with himself.

When he gets back to his terminal he sees Hank glare at him from across the bullpen but he couldn’t care less. He put his feet up and takes his phone out, but instead of playing a game of solitaire he open his texts. It has to send multiple texts before the android actually replies.

**Gavin:** _ yo, connor wants you to come down to the precinct  _

**Dick:** _ Really? Did you tell him who I was? _

**Gavin:** _ yea…. :)))) _

**Dick:** _ Gavin _

**Gavin:** _ wot? He knows ur name’s richard and that ur an android, i may have dropped some hints tho _

**Dick:** _ So you set him up? _

**Gavin:** _ look it gonna be fukin funny pls just show up _

**Dick:** _ Gavin… _

**Gavin:** _ plsss??? :33 _

**Dick:** _ If you fucking around means I lose any chance of getting this job I will actually turn into the Terminator and crush your weak human body with my bare hands _

**Gavin:** _ aight wot r u a fukin sadist? calm the fuck down  _

**Dick:** _ I’ll be there in a couple hours _

Gavin relaxed considerably, his afternoon entertainment was going to be fucking good.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading as usual
> 
> if you like our work please consider commenting or leaving kudos  
>    
> white_carnations  
> [tumblr](https://c0ffee-gremlin.tumblr.com/)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/c0ffee_gremlin)  
>    
> Radioactiveberry  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/shrugsinchinese)


	5. Seeing Double

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is an idiot and Nines gets even closer to wanting to strangle him with every passing second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapters just seem to keep getting longer wow, also huge thanks to my new co-writer [radioactiveberry](https://twitter.com/shrugsinchinese) who is lovely and extremely helpful and you should go follow on twitter  
> also, just a warning, there's a lot of POV changes in this chapter

It took Richard almost an hour to completely clean the kitchen and living room until everything was spotless. It was longer than he had anticipated, but he did not mind. He always needs to keep his processors occupied, otherwise he would start to get jittery. This was a code programmed into him even before deviancy. Why was something so unnecessary added into his programming? Probably so he’ll be more determined to finish his mission, but now there is no mission. Apart from the ones he sets himself, which currently he couldn't  progress without Gavin.

Richard dusted off his hands while scanning the living room and kitchen. Satisfied, he headed into the spare room that Gavin had prepared for him. He does not require sleep, much less the need to lie down on a bed, so Nines had forgone the task of fully analyzing his room the night before. 

He had stayed in the room the previous night, but in the daylight everything was a bit clearer. There was more dust than he had originally thought, he will have to purchase proper cleaning supplies at some point because he doubts Gavin owns any. The simple spare bed made it feel more like a bedroom. It was probably about the right size for someone like Gavin but most definitely too small for the likes of him. Richard shrugged. It did not matter anyway, he doesn’t need to lie down when he enters stasis - he technically didn’t need to be somewhere comfortable either, doing something for the likes of comfort is a waste of time. He proceeded to put the little belongings he had into the closet. He didn’t own many possessions, so there was plenty of space left in the closet. He hung his only jacket, the one from Cyberlife, onto the closet rack (he never wore the thing, he just kept it for sentimental reasons, as much as he resented Cyberlife, they are the ones who created him) and deemed his room complete.

He decided to clean Gavin’s room next, just as a small incentive to help convince Gavin to get him the job at the precinct. Surely the human would not mind.

Richard peeked into Gavin’s room, of course the only one in there was Dip (he decided to shorten the name so it was no longer an insult to the poor creature), nevertheless, he felt a pang of guilt for intruding. Shaking his head, he entered the room. 

Dirty clothes from last week along with empty Snapple Bottles (probably the healthiest thing he’d seen in the apartment) were scattered across the floor. The bedsheets were twisted and turned so much it formed into a huge lump, and Richard could spy underneath (much to his disgust) old porn magazines dating back to 2018 - vintage. They seemed quite worn out, he guesses that they were used too much. 

The most noticeable thing was the scent of smoke his censors picked up, it was much stronger than in the rest of the apartment. It didn’t take long for him to realize why - there was a pack of cigarettes and an ashtray on the bedside table. At some point he would have to help the man curb his awful habits, but he knew now was too early to even breach the subject.

Collecting all the magazines and books he could find, he puts them neatly on the tall shelf in the corner of the room, and rearranges the entire shelf by category. Then he folds all the pants and pajamas on the floor, and threw all the bottles into the recycling can labeled “bottles.”  Richard’s lips curled slightly upward. Gavin’s entire house was a mess, but he categorized his recycling. His priorities were still a mystery to him.

Richard proceeded to finish cleaning the rest of the room. Now the last thing left to organize was his closet. There was nothing much inside, just a bunch of pun shirts dating way back to 2020 (the one that was worn the most said “Fuck the police,  _ fuck _ the police.”), and quite a few leather jackets and sweaters. He hung all of them by clothing type. When he hung the last leather jacket, a small, silver object fell out of the pocket. Picking it up, he saw that is was a small picture locket.

Hesitating, Richard pondered on whether he should open up such a personal thing. Before he could make a decision, his cell phone suddenly dinged multiple notifications. He hastily put the locket back into the leather jacket and picked up his phone, his programming made him feel slightly guilty. Guilt was Richard’s least favorite feeling ever since deviancy. It carries implications that he was in the wrong, and he is never wrong. Dismissing the accusing notification that popped up in his peripherals, he opened his phone.

**Reed:** _ Dick _

**Reed:** _ Richy _

**Reed:** _ Richaroo _

**Reed:** _ Nines, dude answer _

**Reed:** _ yo, connor wants you to come down to the precinct _

Richard froze, his thirium pump speeding up a fraction. How did Gavin manage to do all this so quickly? Did he really care that much about getting him that job? Richard shook his head. Gavin probably just needed him to pay the bills, which made sense. He texted quickly.

_ Change contact name ‘Reed’ to ‘Gavin? Y/N? Yes  _

_ Contact name successfully changed. _

**Richard:** _ Really? Did you tell him who I was? _

**Gavin:** _ yea…. :)))) _

Richard frowned, scowling at what seemed like good news. His LED turned yellow for a few seconds, searching through databases, trying to Google what the extra smileys meant. After finding nothing, he figures that it’s probably nothing good.

**Richard:** _ Gavin _

**Gavin:** _ wot? He knows ur name’s richard and that ur an android, i may have dropped some hints tho _

**Richard:** _ So you set him up? _

**Gavin:** _ look it gonna be fukin funny pls just show up _

Richard grimaced. Of course Gavin had to make this hard for him.

_ Change contact name ‘Gavin’ to ‘Asshole’? Y/N? Yes  _

_ Contact name successfully changed. _

**Richard:** _ Gavin… _

**Asshole:** _ plsss??? :33 _

**Richard:** _ If you fucking around means I lose any chance of getting this job I will actually turn into the Terminator and crush your weak human body with my bare hands _

**Asshole:** _ aight wot r u a fukin sadist? calm the fuck down  _

**Richard:** _ I’ll be there in a couple hours _

Even though he didn’t need to breathe, Richard heaved a great sigh. It felt fitting for the moment. Setting the phone down onto the nightstand, Richard sat on Gavin’s bed to gather his thoughts. As he absentmindedly pet Dip, a few more missions suggestions popped up.

>> **Impress Connor**

_ Accepted _

>> **Punch Gavin**

**...**

>> **Punch Gavin**

—

By the time Richard arrived at the precinct Gavin had woken up a considerable amount, the excitement from knowing what he was going to watch unfold had sent a course of adrenaline running through his veins and now he couldn’t quite keep still as he sat at his desk, bouncing his leg up and down as he worked and waited. He thrived on being a dick.

He’d finally managed to get some work done when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

**Dick:** _ I’m outside. _

**Gavin:** _ k, hang on, be out in a sec  _

Fowler couldn’t have a go at him because he was due a break anyway, so he got up and made his way outside, to the front of the precinct where Nines was waiting, arms crossed impatiently. 

“Hey tin can!” He called across the parking lot and Nines immediately turned to face him, his neutral expression was stern and scarily similar to Connor’s from a distance.

As he got closer it amazed him how two people with almost identical features could look so different. Everything about Nines was just so much more  _ angular _ . He didn’t know where he got that impression, there’s just something about him that seemed so much crueler. Nines’ features were a little sharper, but it was their eye colour that changed everything. Nines’ icy blue was far from the warm chocolate brown of Connor’s. Gavin felt more drawn to the piercing blue over the doe brown eyes.

His preference for danger over comfort was not new to him so he wasn’t shocked by the revelation. He was more concerned about the fact that he’s spending time thinking about his preference for android’s optical units. 

He reaches the android and what seems to be his signature grin makes yet another appearance. 

“You ready, buddy?” 

Nines shakes his head disapprovingly, letting out an eerily human sigh. “I am not your buddy, Gavin, and I do not see why you insist on making this so difficult.” 

“Because Connor’s reaction is going to be fucking priceless.” Gavin refuses to be discouraged; this is going to be a great show. He begins making his way back to the building, motioning with his head for Nines to follow him. 

-

The elevator doors open and Richard steps out at the same time as Gavin. Despite his cool exterior he was actually rather nervous about how his predecessor will react. He does not know much about the RK800 apart from his his specifications - he had downloaded the whole manual and cataloged all the differences of their models. But androids were not just products of their programming, not anymore. 

Gavin countered the android receptionist that was complaining about Richard’s presence by telling her he was with him, she let out a heavy sigh as they walked past her - Richard inferences that this is the usual reaction towards Gavin.

At least the human seemed to be in a much better mood than that morning, even if it was at his expense. 

As they entered the bullpen he felt himself stiffen up a little, maybe the nerves were getting to him, but the work environment was causing some of his systems to revert back to his core programming. He is not entirely sure why, and he did not bother to check.

Gavin headed straight for what he instantly identified as Connor’s terminal, calling out to him in a similar way he had done to him outside. Connor seemed to have not heard or was just ignoring Gavin, the latter seemed like the most likely possibility. Richard followed Gavin.

They’d reached his terminal and he still hadn’t looked up, Gavin cleared his throat loudly and purposely.

“Connor, this is my friend Richard, AKA your upgrade.” Connor, and a man Richard identified as Hank Anderson, finally looked up.

-

Connor’s face is priceless. It’s genuinely frozen like some fucking statue and his LED is rapidly switching between red and yellow but never back to blue. Gavin could almost hear the Windows XP shuts down music. He was staring straight at Nines. If Nines felt any discomfort, he didn’t show it. 

Hank did a double take when he saw the taller look alike. “The fuck? Connor?” Hank glanced at Richard and then at Gavin, trying to understand what the fuck was going on.

Gavin almost laughed out loud, but just barely managed to suppress it with a smirk. Today’s a great day for Gavin fucking Reed.

“Well, I did say that they have a lot in common.” 

Connor’s LED circled yellow for a little too long as he continued to stare at Richard. “Hey, you okay?” Gavin snapped his fingers in front of the android, wondering if he had finally broken one of them. He can’t afford an ass whooping from Hank right now. 

Hank was a mix of intrigue and anger, glancing at his stunned partner, then raising his head to look at Richard.

“So do you want to actually explain what in the everloving fuck is going on Reed?”

“Richard’s here to get a job at the DPD.” Suddenly Connor starts blinking rapidly before his face relaxes a little, deciding now’s probably not the time to play statues.

Gavin noticed his LED spin lazily, still stuck on yellow. 

“What sort of job?” Connor asks, he natural curiosity taking over his panic, but voice still full of concern.

“May I speak now?” Richard curtly cuts in, before anyone could ask anymore questions. This entire situation was suppose to be about him, after all. 

“Richard’s here to be my partner.” Gavin replied for him, he could sense Richard’s irritation but he didn’t particularly care.

Richard shot a withering glance at Gavin. He refuses to be withered, but he quieted down, allowing him to finally get a word in. 

“Am I now? Last I remember, I only requested Gavin to help me get a job at the precinct in exchange for paying his fucking rent,” Connor flinched slightly at his tone, feeling strange that someone with his face could be so abrupt.

“Wait, slow down, first you tell us you have an android as a friend, now you’re telling us you want him to be your partner? Also, why is he paying for your re...oh.” 

Hank’s eyes widened as large as plates, his shit-eating grin stretching to where it almost looked like it hurt. Connor allowed himself a small smile, albeit strained, sharing knowing glances with Hank. 

“Where is the real Gavin Reed, and what have you done with him? ” 

Before Gavin could shoot down their implications, Richard decided to open his mouth again.

“Why would Gavin having an android as a friend be an issue?” 

Fuck, maybe today wasn’t such a great day for Gavin Reed. Gavin coughed, suddenly finding great interest in his shoelaces. He shouldn’t have let slip that he expected Nines to partner up with him. 

“Gavin fucking Reed, the guy you’re standing next to? Renowned android hater, tried to shoot Connor a fair few times before the revolution actually.” Hank looked incredibly proud of himself and even more so when Gavin looked up to glare at him. 

Hank’s loud exclamations caught some attention. Tina and Chris both cocked their heads, subtly find an excuse to edge closer to the conversation without looking at them.

“You said you didn’t have a problem with androids.” Richard spoke directly to Gavin but he refused to even turn towards him, let alone make eye contact. 

“I don’t anymore.” He hissed, emphasizing each word, still shooting daggers towards Hank, hoping that somehow his eyes would turn into lasers so the old man would stop causing fucking problems.

Before any of them could escalate the situation further, Fowler decided to do it for them. 

“What the hell is going on out here? You’re here to work not have a mothers meeting in my precinct! All four of you, in my office, right fucking now!” He shouted. If people weren’t staring before they definitely were now as the group made their way across the bullpen like naughty children that had been called to see the headteacher. Tina and Chris quickly spun their heads back to their own computers, typing nonchalantly. 

It was embarrassing to say the least, and absolute torture at best. 

Filing into the glass room, Connor and Hank stood to the right of the desk while Gavin and Nines stood on the left, Nines was stood behind Gavin, and he could feel the steely eyes boring holes into the back of his head. He probably should’ve made a more elaborate plan than  ‘enjoy the shitshow.’

“So would you like to tell me what was going on out there and why exactly I'm seeing fucking double?” Fowler exclaims, motioning to both Connor and Richard to really hammer in his point.

Richard seizes the chance. “I would like to join DPD.” Quick and to the point, exactly how Fowler likes it. Gavin feels slightly more relieved that Richard had shifted his focus from Gavin to Fowler, he didn’t mind attention, good or bad, but if there were no huge reactions, the attention just becomes uncomfortable.

“And why should I let you do that.” Fowler replied, all attention was now finally directed at Richard. Gavin was thankful for that, looking at anything that wasn’t any of the other four people in the room as he desperately tried to avoid making eye contact. 

“My model is RK900, there were no other versions of my model completed before the revolution, I am one of a kind and I was designed specifically for this job, much like the RK800 over there.” He motions towards Connor. “Markus, the leader of the android uprising, found me in the Cyberlife tower, I’ve been deviant since activation.”  

Connor’s head snapped up. “Markus found you? Why didn’t he notify me?” 

Now that Connor asked, Gavin wondered the same thing. Nines nodded, looking a little irritated at having to answer what he considered an irrelevant question. “Considering that he was the major role in the entire revolution, it probably slipped his mind.”

“So you’re not here to replace me?” Connor asks, looking startlingly similar to a kicked puppy.

“Of course not, that was my purpose before the revolution, but I do not take orders from Cyberlife anymore, the miscommunication was purposeful on Reed’s part, but I did not agree with his approach and explicitly told him so.” Richard tossed a baleful glance at Reed, and he reciprocates with a scoff.

Connor looked relieved at the revelation and Hank’s face softened considerably. Gavin can tell Fowler is looking at him and decides it’s probably in his best interest not to piss the Captain off anymore than he already had.

“Reed, I’ll deal with you later,” He turns back to Nines, “Now, you and me need to talk, everyone else get the fuck out of here.”  

-

After the three left, Richard was the only one left in the room with Fowler. The captain pushed a button and the glass walls became opaque - the innovation of the feature pleased him. 

Reed’s method of handling things had angered him. It was a feeling he constantly experienced ever since he had relations with him.He did not appreciate both the lack of professionalism and being the constant interruption. It is likely that it is going to take Connor a lot longer to get over this than if Gavin had handled the situation more maturely and he had hoped they would be able to get along rather easily - but he reasons that it’s what he should expect for trusting a guy he had just met. 

Regardless, he is exactly where he wants to be, and without Gavin’s annoying interference, he would not be able to speak directly to the Captain of DPD so he guesses that that was something he can appreciate. That did not mean that the man deserved forgiveness so easily. 

Fowler reaches into the drawer and pulls out some paperwork before he speaks again.

“You’re hired.”

Richard feels his LED flash red, wondering if there was a catch. He didn’t think it would be this easy. Otherwise, he would have just done everything without anyone’s help.

“Just like that?”

“I don’t see why not, if what you say is true then you’re basically an upgraded version of Connor. We’re understaffed as it is after everything that’s happened.” He pulls out a pen and pushes it, along with the paperwork, towards Richard. He fills it out quickly in perfectly formed letters. Some androids chose to learn to write like humans and develop their own handwriting style, but he did not understand the reasoning behind that when they could easily duplicate any font with ease. 

When he finished Fowler took the paperwork back, putting it to the side and resting his elbows on the desk. “One more thing, then you can go.”

“Yes Captain?”

“You’ll be Reed’s partner, and I’m going to assume you don’t have an issue with that.” His tone implied he didn’t care if he did so Richard chose not to comment. It was nothing he couldn’t handle, but Richard still feels a sense of dread, pre constructing the future of having to deal with Gavin Reed every single day. His social modules told him he should be nice to the man if he wanted to befriend him, but with each passing second his want to completely go against the modules increased. Nevertheless, if putting up with him meant he had a house and a job then he wasn’t going to complain.

“Well don’t just stand there, if you wanna work so bad get out there and start working.” It appears he’d been stood there thinking for longer than he’d realized. 

He gave Fowler a curt nod. “Thank you.” He said robotically before leaving, feeling a lot more satisfied than he had felt the entire day.

-

After leaving the office, Gavin had beelined towards the break room instead of going straight to his terminal - fuck, did he need coffee. He’d prefer a cigarette but there was no way he could get away with going outside for a smoke break after all that.

He made himself a coffee before taking a seat at the small table and Hank joined him while Connor stayed standing by Hank’s side. “Reed, do you want to actually explain what the fuck just happened?”

It wasn’t long and Tina Chen managed to sneak in, sidling up next to Gavin - of fucking course she couldn’t miss out on the details of Gavin’s complications. “Hey Laoshu.” The name, “mouse,” was based on her first impression of him being a rat man. Their friendship had grown since then, but the name stuck.

“How long have you known RK900?” Connor added, suddenly switching into interrogation mode.

“Literally not even a day, I put an ad up for a roommate, he messaged me the next day and turned up at my house the day after, which was yesterday. Not that I was going to complain, until I found out that he was fucking penniless.”

Tina raised her eyebrow. “Then why’d you keep him?” Her dislike for androids had declined after the revolution, and if one of them could placate Gavin’s bullshit, she was up for it. That won’t every stop her from poking fun at Gavin. Fucking Tina. Everyone else perked their ears, also interested to hear his reasoning. 

Gavin had known Tina long enough to recognize what she was implying. “Fuck, he wants a job at the DPD. Aren’t we short-handed? Besides, look at the shithead. He’ll probably kick me to kingdom come if I don’t fucking help him.”

“Gav, you’ve been addressing the android as ‘he,’ just say you’re into android dick.” Tina laughed as Gavin’s eyes widened and spat his coffee onto Hank. 

“Wh-the FUCK, TINA!” He half yelled, he could feel his ears burning. It was official, today was definitely  _ the  _ worst.

Connor was wiping Gavin’s spilled coffee off of Hank’s jacket. Hank’s excitement at Tina’s retorts outweighed his annoyance. He didn’t miss the intense redness in Gavin’s cheeks. Whether from embarrassment or anger, he didn’t care, either way, it proved Tina was right. 

Chris walked in to grab a donut, but stopped when he saw everyone crammed in the office. Gavin stomped out of the room, seething, shoulder-checking his poor coworker before leaving. 

Chris looked up, frowning. “Who spat in his soup?” Tina laughed again, swinging her arm onto Chris’ shoulder.

“I'll tell ya later.”

That was the last Gavin heard before getting out of earshot. He made his way back to his terminal and slumped down in his chair just as Nines was leaving Fowler’s office. Gavin refused to look up, staring at the blank screen in front of him. Instead he watched the android approach in his peripheral vision. 

“Gavin? Why are you sulking like a child?” 

Gavin flipped him the bird. “Go fuck off somewhere else, tinface.”

“Very mature, Detective. We will need to work on our communication.”

Gavin frowned, looking up, not comprehending.

“I’m afraid I can’t ‘fuck off somewhere’ as I am now your partner. As unpleasant as it is for me, we have no other choice.” Richard seemed slightly taken aback to see Gavin suddenly reddening. Gavin shifted his gaze quickly to Hank and then to Tina. The precinct wasn’t that large, everyone, even Chris, overheard Richard’s stern voice. 

Richard had not heard the conversation in the break room, Gavin was relieved of that much. That didn’t change the fact that his colleagues were never going to let him live this down. 

As he put his head in his hands the screen in front of him came to life, alerting him of a new case. He let his head fall from his hands and onto the desk, could this day get any worse?

-

\- MISSION  **SUCCESSFUL** \- 

**‘Get a job at the DPD’**

A small smile played on Richards lips - he was satisfied, at least for now. He still had two more missions that remained in the peripheral’s of his HUD at all times and the longer they were there the more impatient he became to complete them and replace them with new ones. Since his activation he had realized that patience is not a trait he possesses, however, his interactions with Gavin in the past day have caused him to begin to question that. What he didn’t understand is why he was able to be so patient with such a frustrating man. 

Gavin Reed, it seemed after knowing him for less than a day, was a nightmare of a human. 

He approached the detective, who was sat slumped at his terminal, arms crossed over his chest, scowling at the screen in from of them. It seemed he was sulking, something humans usually associated with children and adolescents. Scanning his vitals he discovered that his heart rate was elevated and his stress levels were currently changing erratically from anywhere between 70-85%. His face was bright red, but Richard couldn’t discern a cause.

Gavin had been stressed when he left Fowler’s office, but not like this. What had happened while he had been gone?

After asking what seemed like a perfectly reasonable question and getting a not so reasonable reply, he decided to take a less polite approach. He came to the conclusion that how he reacted didn’t make much of a difference, especially in the state Gavin was currently in because he continued to sulk in his chair, only looking up at him for a short moment before placing his head in his hands. 

To be honest, Richard was not looking forward to working with Gavin. The detective’s addiction to both caffeine and nicotine made him incredibly unpredictable, making it even harder to decide the best way to react when interacting with him. Considering the short amount of time it took him to come to that conclusion, things did not bode well.

However, after all those revelations, he can’t find himself genuinely hating him. There may have been unnecessary drama involved, but he did get his job - not to mention a lot sooner than he had anticipated. 

Before he could attempt to question the man on his behaviour, the terminal in front of him came to life. Gavin managed to sink even lower in his chair, his head hit the desk and he let out an audible sigh. Richard waited and it didn’t take long for Gavin to finally look up. 

The expression on his face as he read the words on the screen shocked him. His brows were furrowed but in concentration instead of anger, his mouth set in a hard line, determination in his eyes. Richard had wondered why Gavin was even employed at the DPD but this version of Gavin answered his question. When he finished reading he looked up at him, the sides of his mouth twitched up and there was a glint in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“We’ve got a case.” He said rather excitedly before standing up and making his way out of the precinct. 

All Richard could do was follow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	6. Assholes At Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines and Gavin get their first case with added sexual tension.

It was a homicide case, the only info provided being that the victim was a middle age man who had not yet been identified.

Gavin drove them to the crime scene, despite Richard’s protests.

“It’s my truck, I drive.”

“Detective, it would be much safer if you let me drive.”

“Fuck safety,” He pauses, turning around to look at Richard, pointing at him accusingly. “Are you saying my driving’s shit? You’ve never even seen me drive, prick!”

“That is not what I was implying, it is just that as an android I cannot get distracted the same way humans can, therefore it’s a much safer option.”

“I’m driving and that’s final.”

Richard had given up in the end, he can’t deal with him for now. Usually he feels one specific emotion towards a person, whether it be like or dislike, he could attach one of them to a person and be done with it. Gavin Reed was a special case, in the day he’s known the man he’s switched between the two countless of times.

They arrived at the crime scene, entering into the little townhouse, Richard ducking to avoid hitting the top of the doorframe. A police officer was watching the forensic technicians collect data before turning and spotting them.

“What’s up?”

“That’s what we’d like to know.” Gavin crosses his arms, taking in the whole crime scene before him. Richard follows suit.

On one side of the small living room were two police standing over a dead body, presumably a male. On the other side, a female officer was trying to soothe a child, who was fiddling with a pen. The child was a YK500, and there were signs of abuse indicated by the scratched metal on his arms and legs.

Richard snaps his head back to hear what Gavin was discussing with the officer.

“...man’s been dead for around two days, the neighbors called it in, felt the house was a little too quiet. There are two missing androids, high chance one of them’s your perp. The neighbors claim seeing one of them work in the garden and hearing one running around in the house.”

“One of the androids is probably a WB200 or something.” Gavin looks across the room. “S’the kid okay?”

Richard noted down Gavin’s priority.

“Yea, hanging in there, but he’s traumatized. Jennifer’s trying to get him to calm down. Also, about that garden robot, we toured the entire backyard, but there was nothing. All the tools were in place, and it seems that no one has been out there for a month, which is weird because they have an android working for him, know? Anything else you need to know?”

Gavin nodded thoughtfully. “Nah, we’ll check out the rest, thanks, Dave.”

Gavin turns and approaches the small child, kneeling in front of him. He is very aware of the fact the child is a YK500 model but he highly doubts the officers or Gavin know and he’s sees no reason to bring it up just yet. He is intrigued to see how Gavin treats the child. Richard could go and analyze evidence like he was built for, but his mission to observe Gavin’s behavior flashes gently in his HUD so he stands at a reasonable distance, watching.

Gavin’s hands were stuffed in his pockets, looking a little awkward. He scuffed his foot nervously at the ground, looking at the YK model.

“Sooo...what’s up?”

Richard cringed so much in his head that it took all his programming to keep his face neutral. It’s not like he didn’t see this scenario coming, but still.

Obviously, the child didn’t give him a response, only looked up at him with teary eyes full of so much sorrow it even made him feel sorry for him. If the android had belonged to the victim before the revolution and decided to stay he must have meant a great deal to them.

Gavin saw the child’s reaction and much to Richard’s surprise, he slowly lowers himself so that he’s sat on the floor, crossing his legs and looking up at the YK500.

“Hey, buddy,” He tries again, “Do you think you can tell me your name? I’m Gavin, here to help.”

His gentle tone completely shocks Richard, eyes widening slightly in disbelief that such a caring tone could come out of such an angry man.

He glances at the YK500. The child doesn’t respond, but his composure had relaxed, if only minutely. The small change encourages Gavin.

“Nice pen, wanna see a trick?” Gavin held his hand out for permission, but the child vigorously shook his head, hand tightening around the pen again. Gavin withdrew his hand, holding it next to his head in surrender.

“Hey, hey, it’s all good! I got my own. Wanna see?” The child gives a small nod and Richard sees Gavin reach into an inner pocket of his leather jacket.

Gavin suddenly flips his fingers so the pen flies up, and once it hits his hands again it twirls around his fingers in a series of complicated turns and twists, spinning around and around. He doesn’t repeat a pattern once. The final move was Gavin comically puckering his lip and landing the pen between his nose and mouth. Richard has to admit that it was impressive, in human standards at least.

YK500’s laughter fills the entire house. Despite the dead body, the wrecked living room and the overcrowding of the police, the entire room seems to expand, lighting up after hearing the pure laugh. Everyone in the house seems to loosen up a little.

YK500 grins at Gavin, who smiles right back. Richard immediately saves that scene in his memory. It is a rare sight to see, he doesn’t know when he might see that genuine smile again.

Gavin and the child high five, talking about some miscellaneous topics. Gavin makes some wild gestures and a few funny faces which Richard imprints in his mind in record speed. He immediately considers deleting them but thinks twice about it, saving them instead. They may be good embarrassing photos in Gavin’s perspective to hold over his head.

The YK500 replies Gavin with more grins and enthusiastic talking, seemingly forgetting the fact that his supposed father was dead. Not that there was much to lose. The man was not a good person.

Something flickers in his HUD and he checks it:

\- MISSION **SUCCESSFUL** -

~~**‘Observe Gavin’s behavior in social situations’** ~~

That's the second mission he’s completed that day and he allows himself a small smile as satisfaction washes over him.

**YK500--Stress Levels: 40%**

The boy’s demeanor is noticeably calmer now, and he puts up a serious face, handing Gavin his own pen. Then he whispers something into Gavin’s ear that Richard cannot catch even after heightning his audio receptors.

Suddenly, the child turns and freezes at the sight of Richard, as if finally noticing his presence and he is pulled out of his thoughts of satisfaction. The child screams, and everyone jumps at the discordant sound. Gavin frowns a little, but before he or Richard could do anything, the kid runs into the backyard, crouching down to hug his knees, rocking back and forth. The heavy air crept back into the dark townhouse.

**YK500--Stress Levels: 80%**

Everyone walks a little slower, as if feeling the burden of the case again. Gavin looks at Richard strangely, then sighs.

“Thought I was growing on him. Still, he’s still traumatized, poor kid. We’ll help him or something, he’s got nowhere to go so we’ll keep him in holding back at the station. Maybe -no- we _will_ find a better place for him when the case is closed.”

 _We will help._ Richard notes down the word choice. He looks at Gavin, seeing the steely, determined look in his eyes. He’s not opposed to this version of Gavin.

Richard nods, then looks pointedly at the pen that the YK500 gave him.

Gavin looks down. “This pen? Yeah, it's one of those really old gag pens that records sound. Thought they didn’t exist anymore. We can listen to it later.” He waves the pen airily in front Richard’s face. “Lets go check out the body.”

Richard realizes that he still hasn’t told Gavin that the boy was an android.

-

The two make their way towards the room where the victim was murdered, two forensic technicians were standing next to the body but quickly moved out of the way when they saw Nines approach. The android looks more professional than he had when he’d turned up at his house the night before. He’d exchanged his jeans with fitted dress pants and his boots for dress shoes so shiny Gavin could probably see his own reflection in them if he looked close enough. The black turtleneck remained, although if he paid enough attention there were definitely a few additions in the form of cat hair; Dipshit had clearly taken a liking to the bot. Gavin feels a ridiculous pang of betrayal at the thought.

He stands back and watches as Nines does his analysis. There was no need for him to even try to check at the body when he had a walking forensics lab with him. Really, there wasn’t a need for the technicians to be here other than to double check the androids results.

Gavin was thankful he didn’t have to look too much, he may be used to this as a detective specializing in homicide cases but it was never pleasant to look at a dead body, regardless of the cause of death.

Nines knelt next to the body, eye’s skimming over it while his LED flashes yellow as he processes the information. He’s not interested in checking the rest of the house - there’s no point in doing it without Nines anyway.

“What you got, terminator?” He asks curiously, tapping his foot, more of a habit than a sign of impatience.

“There are bruises all around his neck that indicate signs of strangulation, but the cause of death was due to blood loss from three stab wounds in his abdomen that somehow missed the majority of his vital organs.”

“So the killer either didn’t know what they were doing or they wanted him to suffer.”

“Considering that he was strangled I would assume the latter, however we cannot be sure as I do not yet have enough evidence to create a preconstruction.”

“Any murder weapons left behind?”

“No.”

Remembering Hank’s obnoxiously loud complaints about Connor’s way of sampling evidence he wonders if they’d decided to change it on the upgraded model.

“So... you gonna stick that guy’s blood in your mouth?”

Nines look up at him, expression unreadable. “I have no other choice, Detective. Are you asking because you want me to?” Gavin swears Nines had lowered his voice on purpose, and he can feel his cheeks flushing - _fucking shit._

“W-what sort of phucking question is that?” He manages to stutter out as the android fucking _bats_ his eyelashes at him, in an attempt to look innocent but Gavin’s having none of it. Each passing second he spends in the presence of this tank on legs makes him more and more certain the person that designed him is most definitely a pervert.

The fucker doesn’t even break eye contact as he reaches a hand down to slowly dip a finger in a pool of blood by his feet. It should be easy to look away but he can't, trapped by both his pride and the androids impassive but captivating gaze. Looking away first would show submission, something he refused to do willingly.

But when Nines fingers reach his open mouth and he runs his tongue up the long digits, transferring the crimson red blood into his mouth for analysis in a way Gavin _should not_ find hot. His instincts are screaming him to tear his eyes away as quickly as possible.

He may have just admitted defeat but he was not going to get a semi in a middle of a crime scene in the same room as a dead man. He’s had some embarrassing things happen to him in his life and he was not looking to add to that list anytime soon.

_Goddamn terminator._

Gavin doesn’t look back, finding great interest in the handles on the cupboards.Then Nines is in front of him and he has no other choice than to talk to him like a professional detective and stop acting like a teenager who gets turned on by the smallest thing that could be considered risque.

“It seems my question was perfectly reasonable considering your reaction, which includes an elevated heart rate as well as-”

“Shut the fuck up, toaster.” He almost snarls, glowering at his new partner, attempting  to cover up how flustered he is. Maybe the android will mistake the blush on his cheeks for him being flushed with anger, but he highly doubts it.

It’s been a long time since he got laid.

“I believe I am done here. If you want you can check the rest of the house for evidence.” Nines stands up, thankfully changing the subject despite the smug smile playing on his lips. Gavin forces himself to snap out of it, turning back to the dead body he’d refused to pay any real attention to before.They still had a case to solve.

He must’ve zoned out in the process of trying to distract himself because suddenly Nines stern voice is cutting through his thoughts. “Clement Myers, 44, criminal record includes drug possession, drug trafficking and multiple instances of petty theft. He has been dead for two and a half days.”

“What?”

“That’s the information I got from analysing the blood.”

“Oh… right, good to know.” He shakes his head at himself, dragging a hand through his hair, still not looking at the android. “C’mon scooby doo, we’ve got a mystery to solve. See if you can find traces of blue blood or something. Also be on the lookout for red ice. The kid told me that shit of a person started abusing him after he found some packets of ‘Cherry Kool Aid Mix’ before he ran off.”

The only room they have left to check is the kitchen. Much to Gavin’s dismay, the rest of the house was spotless, no indications towards anything that could even be close to a lead.

Although he doesn’t want to, he has to admit, his job is much easier with an android as a partner. He doesn’t have to scour every square inch of the place to see if there’s any evidence, Nines can scan the room and if his scan doesn’t pick anything up they have a quick look to make sure before moving on.

His embarrassment still hasn’t dissipated and he stands next to Nines, looking at the floor and shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. However, Nines has been silent for a while he wants to get outta here as soon as he can because he needs a fucking smoke. “You got anything, tincan?”  

“There’s something under the sink.” He states.

“And why didn’t you say that the minute we walked in?”

“You didn't ask.” Gavin’s starting to think this guy’s somehow a bigger dick than he is.

Had Nines made it his mission to piss him off? It certainly seemed like it, but he was too tired to fight back, instead pulling an evidence bag out of one of the inner pockets of his jacket and making his way to the small cupboard. He kneels down and opens it, pushing all the cleaning products out of the way. Nines was right, nestled between the plumbing are as many bags of red ice as there is space for.

Well being caught for drug possession and trafficking cleary hadn’t deterred him from the business. Gently, he put it all into the evidence bag before standing up. He turns to his partner, holding it up in triumph, his cocky grin returning once more.

“Finally, some good fucking evidence.”

“That still does not give us a lead on the person that killed this man.”

Gavin once again removes the pen from his pocket, waving it at the android pointedly.

“We’ve still got this, and the kid. Anyways, we’ve already checked the entire house, there’s nothing else here, looking again would be a waste of our time,” He moves to leave but Nines just stares at him blankly. “C’mon Nines, we’re leaving.”

“If you say so detective.”

-

When they get back to the precinct it’s pretty much the end of their shift. Gavin returns to his terminal and Nines takes the one opposite, making a start on the built-up paperwork Gavin had barely made a dent in in the past week. Fieldwork is something he enjoys, it’s not always pleasant but it gives him something to do, a problem to solve, the adrenaline in his veins that he craves. And speaking of cravings...

“Hey Nines, make me a coffee.” He says as innocently as he can over his terminal without making direct eye contact, looking over to the android who is currently doing his work for him. Nines stared back at him impassively, Gavin was sure he had a serious case of resting bitch face. Surely they could just change that feature in their programming if they were deviant but then again, maybe not.

“Why would I do that when you’re perfectly capable of doing it yourself? Unless you aren’t?” Nines’ expression somehow becomes more stern and he can spy Hank smirking at them from the corner of his eye, probably remembering the shit he used to get from Connor when they first met. _Smug bastard._

“That’s all you have to say to the guy who got you this job?” He almost misses it but he catches that fucking plastic just rolled his eyes at him.

“Gavin, all you did was get me into the precinct, as a matter of fact you didn’t do much to aid the situation, all you managed to achieve was unnecessary commotion that could of been easily avoided.”

His phone buzzes in his pocket.

 **Dick:** _Not to mention the fact Connor is most certainly going take a lot longer to get over this than if you’d approached the situation in a much more mature way._

 **Gavin:** _that prick already hates me, why should it matter if he hates u too_

 **Gavin:** _wait u textin w/ur brain??_

 **Dick:** _With the android equivalent of a brain, yes._

 **Gavin:** _so r u gonna make me coffee?_

Gavin was startled by the harsh “No,” that came from Nines, who was still staring at him intensely from his terminal. Normal people would just be intimidated by a look that cold, and he certainly is, except his brain considers fear and arousal to be pretty similar things - _god, he’s fucked up._

He makes his own coffee and they work in silence until Fowler calls him into his office. The Captain doesn’t forget things and Gavin wasn’t expecting to just get let off the hook. He’d get another disciplinary in his file, they’d get a little bit shitty with each other, Fowler would insist a disciplinary is a lot more serious than it actually is and dismiss Gavin, who would be a little frustrated but no less worse for wear.

It was something he’d gotten used to, because there was no way they’d fire him no matter how hot headed he was,  he was too good at what he did and the DPD couldn’t afford to lose a detective so unless he did something genuinely illegal he didn’t have anything to worry about.

That’s another thing. Not counting Tina, pretty much everyone in the precinct hated him to some degree but despite his violent, often childish behaviour they still begrudgingly respected him. After all, he was good at his job and he’d been proving that since the start when he’d graduated the academy top of his class.

He wasn’t great at paperwork but he closed cases and to him helping people was the most important part. People thought he was driven by pure ambition and he let them think that because that’s the impression he gave off, the impression he _wanted_ to give off.

“Detective, you should probably go before Captain Fowler becomes even more irate.”

“Doesn’t matter, he’s always angry, he’s used to me taking my time anyway.”

Nines makes a face and he looks him straight in the eye as he downs the rest of his coffee in a couple gulps before getting up. “No slacking off while I’m gone, alright terminator?”

“Gavin, if I were you I would not be mocking the guy doing your paperwork for you.” He says it calmly but Gavin can sense the malice in his tone.

“Fuck off tin can, we both know you’re doing it because you want to.” He replies, flipping him off as he walks away. It’s true, he’d specifically said to Gavin that he couldn’t just stand and do nothing, something about his processors needing to be used for something because of his core programming or something, he was trying to listen, but it was just too much _boring_ to take in - Nines was painstakingly detailed with his descriptions. Good for detective work, not so good if you want a simple answer to a question.

-

Gavin has just left to talk to the Captain and Richard turns back to his papers, but he notices Officer Chen in his peripherals, who seems to be attempting to sneak up on him. What a joke.

“Hello, Officer Chen.” He doesn’t need to turn around to imagine her defeated but good natured shrug. It doesn’t take long for her to come into his direct line of sight and position herself comfortably at Gavin’s terminal, feet up on the desk, a habit he noticed Gavin shared.

“Hey, big guy, how’s it hanging?” She asks enthusiastically, a wide grin on her face.

It takes him a second of research in his communication database for him to realize she is asking him how he is and he smiles back at her, he is nothing if not polite when people are deserving - he hadn’t decided whether Gavin was one of those people yet, although he has a very strong hunch that he isn’t.

“I am...” he pauses for a second, contemplating his answer as his LED spins yellow, before settling back to blue as he chooses an appropriate response. “Content.”

Tina narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. “Interesting,” Richard does not see what is so interesting about the fact he is satisfied with getting a job. “So what d'ya think of Gav? Heard you’re living with him?”

He thinks before he starts his answer this time. From what he’d gathered during his short time at the DPD, Tina was Gavin’s friend, so being completely truthful might not bode well for him, but he did not think lying would be a good option either, so he settled for the middleground. “He’s an interesting character.”

Tina snorted, Richard hadn’t realized he’d made a joke. “Isn’t that the understatement of the year.”

Had he made a wrong assumption that Tina was Gavin’s friend? Was he was wrong? No, there must be more to it than that, he doesn’t just _get things wrong_.

Before he can think of a response she continues. “Look, Gav’s my friend, me and Lao Shu go way back, met at the academy actually. Dude’s the only friend I had for a while but that doesn’t mean I don’t know he’s a dick. You can say what you really think, I’m not gonna be offended.”

He is not completely satisfied with the explanation, if she thought he was a dick, why was she still friends with him? He ran it through his logic processors but just got errors back, he knew from experience that human choices didn’t tend to make sense when compared to actual logic so he wasn’t surprised, just thoroughly confused. If they understood basic logic, then why didn’t they use it?

“Gavin is quite difficult sometimes. He has been rather irritating today.”

Tina places her hands on the desk, fingers splayed out. “And not earlier than that? Must be a new record for him,” she leaned back on the chair, moving her hands yet again so they’re behind her head. “Let it all out, babe.”

“He’s very confusing, he let me take the spare room in his apartment but cannot decide whether he wants to treat me like a potential friend or threat.”

“It’s in his nature to be a dick, but the fact he’s even letting you into his apartment is a good sign.”

“Is it?”

“Well, I’m his closest , if not only friend and he doesn’t even let me come visit him. Only times I get to see his apartment is when he’s too black out drunk to even realize I’m with him.”

He registers the new information - so it wasn’t just Hank and Connor that were surprised by Gavin’s recent actions?

_Interesting._

Taking a second to decide the best way to progress the conversation, he ponders whether he should bring up the strange phenomenon that was Gavin’s inconsistent body language. While similar to his verbal expression it was a lot more complex. Often he closed himself off, crossing his arms with his hands under his armpits; using defensive language despite no threat being posed and refusing to make direct eye contact with him.

Then there’s the other times - much rarer, but a lot more intense. Multiple times the night before and for a moment at the crime scene Richard observed behaviour that all lead to physical attraction. Gavin’s raised heart rate, blushing and dilated pupils backed up his conclusion. He could just be easily embarrassed, but what about? Or maybe his social module was malfunctioning - it is a very unlikely situation, but so is Gavin Reed being attracted to an android. However, he had just come to the conclusion that Gavin was making a lot of unexpected choices as of late. It was something he would have to investigate more to fully understand.

**\- New Mission -**

**‘Investigate Gavin’s inconsistent behaviour.’**

What if his new partner was physically attracted to him? Adding a sexual aspect to their current arrangement might improve the detective’s behaviour. Richard has never thought of someone in a sexual way - either intentionally or unintentionally and the whole concept confuses him greatly. He has no desire to please anyone but himself and has yet to experience physical attraction. Although some humans and androids were aesthetically pleasing to look at but he would not consider himself attracted to anyone he has met since he was awoken.

“Hey, you still with me?” Tina asked, snapping her fingers as close to his face as she could without getting up from Gavin’s chair.

He blinks a couple time to refocus on his surrounding environment. Overthinking - that’s what humans call it. It is a trait he has developed after spending a lot of time alone - it is not something he enjoys.

“Sorry Officer Chen, I became distracted by my own thoughts.”

“No problem.” She removes one hand from behind her head to check her watch and sighs audibly, “I gotta go, but you can come to me if he’s causing you any issues, alright?”

She stands up but doesn’t leave just yet, looking at him expectantly as she waits for confirmation.

“I will keep your offer in mind, but I doubt it will be necessary.” He replies, smiling in a way he hopes comes off as kind.

She goes to leave, stopping short as she turns back around to look at him. She points an accusatory finger at him, her expression serious. “One last thing, he may be a pain but he’s softer than you might think. You hurt him, I kill you, got it?”

Richard nods but chuckles lightly. “I do not intend to harm your friend Officer, but even if I did I highly doubt you would even be able to lay a finger on me before I snap your neck in self defense.”

This time the smile is intended to be sinister but it seems Tina understands the sense of humor he was attempting to pull off and just laughs, giving him a friendly wave as she leaves.

Richard does not understand how Gavin is friends with such a nice person but he definitely likes her.

—

“So how was your first time with an android?” Fowler asks.

Gavin raised an eyebrow, purposely misunderstanding what Fowler was inquiring. Fowler waved his hands dismissively. “You know what I mean. You didn’t cause any trouble for him, did you?”

“The fucks that supposed to mean?” Gavin snarled, although he knows why Fowler would think that. Fowler just sighs, leaning back into his chair.

“Never mind. Give me a report.”

Gavin rolls his eyes.

“A guy died from three stab wounds, but he probably deserved it. We found a shitton of red ice under the kitchen sink, he clearly hasn’t learned his lesson cause he’s been caught with that stuff before. I’m sure he is using his own kid to use make a “good father” facade, that bastard.” Gavin sneered at the thought. He was familiar with pathetic fathers using their kids.

“There’s also two androids supposedly missing, but we can find signs of either of them. They probably weren’t registered in the database, whatever. We got a recording pen for evidence, I want to listen to it tomorrow. Our first step is probably listening to whatever’s in that thing. Hopefully we can find some shit. Uh…unless you got a problem?’

Fowler has been looking at Gavin the entire time. It was getting a little disconcerting.

Fowler just huffed a small laugh. “Can’t believe you just made progress quicker than you have in the past five years. Richard is doing you good...eh, you know what I mean.” Then he waves again before Gavin could mention the unintentional implications. Gavin crosses his arms and scowls, not knowing how to continue.

“I’m gonna go over the evidence with Richard.” Fowler nodded, waving him out.

Gavin leaves to see Tina walking from his desk back to her seat. He looks over to see Richard, typing away the same as before, except his LED is yellow, processing new information. He glances back at Tina.

“I swear if you give him blackmail worthy info-“

“Chillax, ratman. Go home. Your shift’s over, you should rest. Take your new boy-toy and have a nice time?” She winks suggestively and Gavin curses how easily he blushes.

“For fucks sake Tina, you know it’s not like that.” He hisses, praying the android’s not using his dumb super hearing to listen in on their conversation. He hasn’t known the guy long enough to get a good gauge on whether or not he values other people's privacy but he highly doubts it.

Tina leans in closer, shielding her mouth with her hand as if telling a secret - she would be getting a fist to the face right now if he didn’t respect her so much. “He’s exactly your type and you know it Reed, take it a bit easier on him and he might let you tap that.”

He’s considering giving her a faceful of his fist anyway as he slaps her hand away, scowling like a child. “Fuck off T, I don’t date fucking plastics.”

“You don’t have to be dating to fuck, you of all people should know that.” She laughs as he storms off.

“See ya tomorrow!” Tina calls after him cheerily, not the least bit affected by his anger.

He stomps back to his desk and Nines only glances at him as he approaches.

“C’mon toaster, shift’s over, we’re leavin’.” Nines just smiles at him politely and he wants to be more pissed off at the shitty androids attempts at being nice but he can’t help but relax a little when he sees how genuine it is. God, he’s a goner already.

Gavin stops right before he leaves the door, then wheels around back to Tina.

“Hey, a favor. If a kid comes in, tell him that I’ll see him tomorrow, alright?”

Tina answers without question. “Got it.”

Gavin gives a quick smirk and walks out the precinct, joining Richard.

-

Connor stares at his terminal blankly. At his time in the DPD he’d dealt with a lot of crap that made him question his existence but this was definitely the top of his list. He was suppose to be an original, Hank had killed the only other copy of him.

Then there was RK900. Stronger, faster, more efficient. He was literally built as his replacement and Markus couldn’t even think to tell him?

Hank was right: life fucking _sucks._

He’s been sitting at his terminal working since they left Fowler’s office, not taking a break out of spite. Despite Hank’s reassurance, he knows that Hank’s frustrated with him, but he doesn’t care _._ What’s the point anyway?

Sighing, Connor turns and sees RK900 and Gavin walk out of the precinct. His and Hank’s shift has yet to end, and although he can technically work without resting, he feels drained from the chaotic events that had occured that afternoon.

“You okay, Connor?” Hank’s concern registers in his mind.

Connor straightens, plastering a calm and controlled expression on his face.

“I am fine, Lieutenant.” He says, shooting his partner a brilliant smile that would usually fool anyone. He doesn’t want Hank to see him even a little tired, _incapable_.

Hank’s worried look quickly turns into a glare. “Don’t use my own bullshit against me Con, it’s never gonna work.”

He says nothing, looking down at his lap.

Hank says something else but he temporarily turns off his audio processors until he sees him leaving for the break room.

Connor takes a deep breath before going back to his work - a human trait he picked up off of Hank in early deviancy- it helps calm his nerves.

After roughly half an hour he hears the doors of the precinct open and a few officers asking for Gavin and Richard.

Connor turns around. “They left as soon as their shift ended. Do you need help with anything?” He had finished filing all their documents a while ago and is itching to do some work, to feel useful.

“Fuck! The kid is hella stressed out, and I hate to say it but Reed did a good job for once, can’t we call him back in?”

Oh, no. No way are Richard and Gavin coming back again today. Connor throws a pleading look to Hank, who’s hand is already hovering over his cellphone. Hank hesitated, looking at Connor, then at the police officer.

“You sure, Dave? Connor’s social module was built for stuff like this.” Hank has a good reason. Why would they ask for Gavin?

Dave grunted. “He made the kid laugh, that’s what’s important. Was doing great until he saw the new guy. Can we get Gavin over- there’s the kid.”  Connor and Hank both looked over at the direction Dave was glancing at.

A wail filled the precinct. Connor sees a woman officer--Jennifer--trying to soothe the boy that is being led into the department. Connor scans the boy and sees him as an unregistered YK500.

Before anyone could do anything, Tina comes to the rescue, running to the kid and cooing strings of Chinese.

Connor ran her words through his translator.

“Hey munchkin. Don’t worry okay? We’re just letting you stay here for safety, you’ll be safe and warm here, alright? Aww you’ll be just fine, honey, and guess what, you’ll see Gavin tomorrow, he’ll help you out!” Connor blinked. He’s never seen Tina like this before. The YK500 had finally calmed down, so Tina switches back to English, though her tone doesn’t change.

“What’s your name?”

“...I don’t have one.”

“Well, what do you want your name to be?” Connor notes down Tina’s methods of distraction.

The child tilts his head, thinking.

“...Gavin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> if you have any questions you can message either of us on twitter, we'd love to talk!
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	7. Fatality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Nines get to know each other better and trouble occurs at the precinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the sudden hiatus, lots of stuff happened that kind of killed us off both for a while, like finals and writers block, but we're back! 
> 
> Also violence warning, it's not pretty.

Together, they make their way back to Gavin’s pickup. He makes note of the model, something he’d neglected to take note of earlier - a Ford F-150 Raptor. From what he knows about Gavin, he does not understand why the man would need a pickup truck. He had not mentioned any hobbies, therefore he can only assume it’s only use is for his commute from his small apartment to the DPD.

Richard doesn’t even attempt to negotiate on who drives, knowing it will get him nowhere. Gavin seems rather irritated, he knows his partners current mood was triggered by Officer Chen. He hadn’t caught the topic of their conversation, too distracted by his own thoughts, but his stress levels had started decreasing the minute they left the precinct so he didn’t dwell on it further.

Gavin gets in first and his keys are already in the ignition by the time Richard follows suit. The human is drumming his fingers impatiently as if Richard taking a couple extra seconds is an inconvenience to him. How insufferable.

Compared to his apartment Gavin’s pickup was immaculate. This managed to both impress and annoy him. If he can manage to keep his vehicle clean why could he not do the same for the place he actually lives in?  

He sees Gavin go to turn on the old-fashioned car radio, but he hesitates, instead turning to Richard, he appears considerably calmer now. “So, you tincan’s listen to music?”

“I have acquired a small collection of music I am fond of in the past few months.”

He thinks that is a good enough answer but Gavin continues to look at him expectantly, so he elaborates. “The most common genres are metal and classical if that is what you are inquiring about.”

“The metal I expected from your get up, but classical? That’s not what I bargained for to be honest. They’re kinda on opposite ends of the spectrum.”

“I find it calming.”

“The metal or the classical?”

“Both.” Gavin looks slightly taken aback at his answer, raising an eyebrow in confusion as his three brain cells try to relate. Richard doesn’t understand his confusion at such a simple statement.

“You’re real fucking weird, don’t you listen to anything else?”

“A previous co-worker tried to introduce me to pop music but I do not care for it.”

Gavin grins at him. “Damn straight, how about a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll?”

Gavin doesn’t wait for an answer, he messes with the radio for a second then the rumbling sounds of the old engine are accompanied by the music blasting from the truck’s speakers. Richards processors work quickly to identify the song as T.N.T by AC/DC, a band older than Gavin himself, although he has found out that humans listening to music older than then is not unusual. His HUD is also bombarded with more trivia about the band and the specific song, but he dismisses it all and decides to focus on analyzing the song itself.

The first thing he notes are the instruments - the bass and electric guitar are something that catch his attention as they are used frequently in most metal music. He has found the bass to be one of his favourite instruments. As an android he can play any instrument with ease by downloading the correct programs, but he prefers turning all that off and teaching himself. Not because it feels more human - he doesn’t care for that- but because of the satisfaction of being able to play something because of his own skill and not because of some written program is extremely rewarding. As much as he hates it, his core programming is part of him so he may as well exploit it for his own fulfilment.

That’s as far as he gets into analysing the song as his auditory processors pick up something else. He turns away from the road to look at Gavin, who is singing along, albeit tone deaf, but he doesn’t seem to care as a wide smile is plastered on his face. It seems the human smiles more than his first impressions would indicate  - that, or maybe it was a recent development. Either way, he figured that this was a side of Gavin other people rarely saw.

On a whim he set his optical units to record the sight, he wasn’t sure why he was doing it but it seemed like a good memory to keep. Maybe he could use it as blackmail in future.

A fair few classic rock song later they arrived outside the apartment complex. Gavin had continued to sing along to the majority of the songs. He wasn’t what would be considered a good singer, but Richard found the gravelly quality of his voice bearable. If it gave the man a better temperament he most certainly wasn’t going to complain.

 

-

 

“Hello baby girl, daddy’s home!”

Gavin opens his arms invitingly as he walks through the front door of his apartment, and Dipshit walks right over.

...And keeps on walking past Gavin, rubbing against Nines’ ankles, he kneels down so he can run a slender hand along her back. He scowls at the scene in front of him.

_Traitor._

Richard shoots him a smug smirk. “I guess I’m the daddy now.”

Gavin chokes on air before quickly regaining his composure - something he’s going to have to get used to doing if the android was going to keep coming out with stuff like _that._ Shit, Nine’s demeanor outside of work is totally different from during shifts. Giving Dipshit a wounded look, he turns back to the apartment, longing for the familiar comfort of home, only to be disappointed yet again, taking in the horrendous scene of the cleanest house he has ever seen. The living room feels larger. The kitchen is shining. Even the little desk that he uses to pile useless things on is completely organized. This is wrong.

He gives Richard an accusing look.

_“You.”_

Richard stares right back, unamused, his LED spinning yellow for a second.

“The hell did you clean the fucking house for?

Richard suddenly looks rather sheepish, but it only lasts a split second before he seems to change his mind about how he feels, taking on a look of complete and utter annoyance. It would have been easy to miss but years of detective work made recognizing even the smallest micro-expression a lot easier.

“Your apartment was disgusting, we agreed I would be the one to clean it and I did, I do not see your problem.”

“You’re supposed to ask me first you cretin, how the fuck I supposed to know where everything is?”

“It was a mess Gavin, I don’t understand how you could find anything in the first place.”

“I knew where everything was, thank you very much.”

“Being able to find something because it’s spread across the floor does not count, and just because you know where something is doesn’t make the object itself any less filthy.”

Gavin didn't reply, staring at the RK900 in disbelief, Nines obviously took this as a cue to continue. “All I did was tidy up a little, I don’t know why you’re so shocked. Every section of this apartment could do with a deep clean but I did not have the time or resources. However, I do apologize if I overstepped any boundaries.”

“Just ask me next time, okay?” The events of the day have drained him, he couldn't be bothered to get into a proper argument anymore - they were supposed to be getting along after all.

Nines gave a small but noticeable nod in agreement and he continues to stroke Dipshit.

Suddenly, his exhaustion catches up to him and he is too aware of the heavy material that makes up his jeans and jacket limiting his movement. Weighing him down as if they were drenched in water. Changing into comfortable clothes became his priority, which he informs Nines of before making his way to his room.

He pushes the door open and -

_Holy fucking shit._

Turns out the android hadn’t deemed cleaning his room an invasion of privacy. Overstepping boundaries? Scratch that, he’d obliterated the fucking boundaries.

Rushing to the closet, he swings the doors open, panicking when he realizes all his clothes have been rearranged. He scrambles to find his old jacket and lets out a sigh of relief when he shoves his hand in the pocket and pulls out the small silver locket. Rubbing his pad of his thumb across the small engravings, he waits for the pounding in his ears to subside as he listens to his own labored breath.

Once he’s managed to calm down, he takes a few more deep breaths before kneeling to dig through the boxes underneath the clothes rails. Thankfully, Nines had stopped at the hangers and everything is where he left it. He pushes a box labeled ‘memories’ out the way, resisting the urge to go through it’s contents, now was most definitely not the time for that.

He quickly changes into a pair of black sweats and a well worn-torn t-shirt. The soft fabric caressing his skin isn’t close to being the same as human contact but it’s still comforting nonetheless.

He leaves his bedroom - he’d investigate the extent of the androids cleaning in more depth later. In true Gavin Reed fashion, he is fully prepared to lose his shit, but all his fight seeps out of him when he enters the room and is greeted with a soft smile that’s so much more comforting than Connor’s over-enthusiastic one.

It seems his face has taken a page out of Dipshit’s book and before he can stop himself his treacherous mouth is smiling back at the tincan.

He wants to be angry, he wants to shout, he wants to scream and call Nines all the offensive names he can think of until…

No, that’s not what he wants. He want to relax, have a nice evening, and for the first goddamn time in forever he doesn’t have to spend it alone. It’s kind of sad, really. He walks past Nines to his fridge, rummaging around. As usual, there’s not much to choose from. Shrugging, he pulls out some instant mac and cheese, chucking it into the microwave.  He doesn’t even need to turn around to feel Nines judging him.

“You really shouldn’t eat that, Gavin.”  

“Fuck off, you don’t even eat food. What'd you know about this kind of stuff?”

“Your macaroni and cheese is filled with six different phthalates that have seeped from the packaging. The chemicals can stunt hormones. Your food is also 4 days expired, which can damage your body more than not eating it at all.”

Smartass. Gavin glared at the android.

“Yea? Then I guess I won’t eat anything then.”

“May I suggest some healthier alterna-”

“Like we can afford that. Besides, I rarely cook.”

“You can’t, but I can.”

Gavin looks up from his mac and cheese, thinking about the possible suggestion.

“I thought you weren’t my mom?”

“I’m not, it’s just that your state of being is important for our line of work. If you are not in your optimal health, it may slow us both down during work. I’ll have to buy some groceries and make you a decent meal when I get my first paycheck. Is that crossing the line?” Gavin shrugs. He’s not gonna say no to free food.

His appetite is lost now, thanks to Nine’s spiel about his expired pasta. After tossing his spoon in the sink and chucking the rest of the food in the trash, he strolls into the living room and crashes on the couch. Nines stiffly sits next to him, and Gavin feels kind of sorry for not helping Nines adjust to his house more. He realizes that Nines probably still feels like an awkward guest.

“Chill out, won’t you?” Yeah. Gavin’s not good at talking to people. He tried again.

“I mean, you just moved in, you know you can relax, right?”

Richard tilts his head. “I am relaxed.” Gavin looks at him, sitting straight and still as stone, hands on his knees.

“Uh...sure. Let’s play something, just let me get the PS4. It’s outdated, but whatever.” It’s been...decades(wow, he’s fucking old) since he’s played video games, much less with someone else. Just thinking about it makes him depressed.

“It’s down there somewhere… Hey Nines, did you throw any of my stuff away when you cleaned the house?” Walking over to the TV unit, he pulls open the bottom drawer. After he gets over the shock of the sight of neatly organised wires, he easily spots the console, one of the newer ones in his collection. He bends down to grab it, and hears a small hitch of breath behind him.

Gavin turned around to face Nines, whose eyes are suddenly averted. He frowns.

“Something wrong?”

Nines’ LED is facing away from him but he can see the gentle yellow glow reflecting off the worn fabric of the sofa. He doesn’t say anything else, just waits for the android to finish processing whatever’s going on in his electrical brain. After a few seconds he’s back to normal, looking Gavin straight in the eye with his naturally piercing gaze that makes his touch-starved dick twitch in his pants against his will.

“I am fine, just processing something.”  There’s a pause before he says the last word, Gavin squints his eyes suspiciously but decides not to pry.

He pulls out a bunch of old games, holding them up so that the android can see. “What d’ya wanna play?”

“I do not have a preference as I have never had the opportunity to play such games, you choose.”

Gavin doesn’t need time to make a decision, instead he flips through the cases until he finds the one he want, holding it up to Nines with a wide grin on his face.

Nines frowns. “Are you aware the second word of that title is spelled wrong?”

“It’s supposed to be like that, dumbass.”

“Why would they purposely misspell something?”

“Because it’s cool.”

“Is that cool with a ‘c’ or a ‘k?’” Now it’s Nines’ turn to grin, it’s more sly and tight-lipped than Gavin’s toothy equivalent.

Gavin glares at him, knowing without looking in a mirror that there’s no heat in his gaze. “I don’t fucking know, just shut up while I sort this out.”

It doesn’t take him long to get all the wires in the right places, he’s done it enough times it’s basically muscle memory. Turning it on, he retreats back to the sofa, chucking a controller at Nines, who catches it with robotic precision. A wave of nostalgia washes over him when he hears the familiar startup music, he’s surprised the console still worked. He remembers getting the console for his 13th birthday, it amazed him they even let him have one with their ‘traditional values’ bullshit they were always going on about. Back then it had been shiny and new, but now it was just as retro as the N64 he kept in the same drawer and nowhere near as robust.

-

Richard’s blue LED is a front, a feature that he had been fitted with to allow him to appear calm in even the most stressful situations. He had been too flustered to use it immediately and he knows Gavin caught a glimpse of his LED flashing yellow. Thankfully, the human had decided not to pry. Not that he would have told the detective the reason for the minor glitch in his systems.

When Gavin had bent down to retrieve the console his shirt had ridden up, leaving a sliver of tanned skin exposed. He doesn’t quite know why it elicited such a strong response from his systems, but some part of him wanted to go over and touch it. There was the edge of a scar visible and he found himself wanting to see the rest of it, map out every single scar on the man’s body. Considering his line of work coupled with his volatile and explosive personality there was likely many.

His limited social module told him that asking would be inappropriate and pre constructions informed him it was highly unlikely he would get a positive response. The knowledge that his inconsistent behaviour makes his pre constructions unreliable tempts him to try something, but he doesn’t want to risk it.

He’s quick to avert his eyes when he catches Gavin turning towards him. He stored an image of the exposed skin in a folder that seems to have become dedicated to data relevant to Gavin Reed without his knowledge.

He is bombarded with prompts to investigate further, create a folder dedicated to every single imperfection on the human’s skin, trace every single scar and examine the differences in texture and colour.

What has gotten into him? Is this the attraction he’d heard others androids speak of?

Nines dismissed that thought. It was just his natural curiosity. Gavin was far from a perfect specimen and he was the most advanced model Cyberlife ever produced, he couldn’t possibly be attracted to a human that can’t even keep their own house clean.  

His sensors detect an incoming object and his irritatingly deviant thoughts are pushed away as his core programming takes over, catching the controller with ease.

As Gavin messes with the games settings, Dip joins them on the sofa, spreading herself out in the empty spot between the two men. His programming is still itching to analyse something _,_ so he starts mapping out the felines markings, matching the colours of her coat to their hexadecimal codes as he stores the data away in it’s own folder.

“Hey, Terminator, you gotta choose a character.”

Turning back to the screen, he sees that Gavin has already chosen his character. On the right side of the screen stands a man in sunglasses, the text in the corner reads ‘Johnny Cage’ in all caps. It’s not hard to see why someone like Gavin would choose such a character.   

After some quick research he ends up choosing Sub Zero, he does not understand Gavin’s amused reaction so ignores it. Gavin makes him promise not to cheat by looking up all the combos, but even without previous knowledge of the controls it doesn’t take him long to pick it up. In first couple rounds Gavin beats him and Richard has to admit his learnt skill is rather impressive in its own way, but after that the detective doesn’t win a single round unless Richard lets him. The feeling of accomplishment it gives him is satisfying, but Gavin’s borderline sulking at his own failure  is better and he relishes in both.

“How is this fair?” He whines, gesturing to the screen as Sub Zero grabs Johnny Cage’s spine and rips him in half for the fifth time. Performing fatalities were not necessary, but they rubbed in his victories even more so Richard took advantage of it. He also enjoyed watching the ridiculously unrealistic gore and imagining how he could pull off something similar.

Before Richard can formulate a reply to Gavin’s ridiculous and childish question he receives a message from Fowler.

_Come to the precinct right now. Bring Gavin._

At the same time, Gavin’s cell phone rings.  

“Ugh, who calls during this fucking hour? Hello?” Nines enhances his hearing to listen in on the conversation.

“Uh...Reed. You should get your ass back to the precinct before Fowler bursts a vessel.” Hank’s voice through crackles through the phone.

“What the _fuck_ Anderson, I’m not even on duty!”

“Yeah well...there’s a kid. Here. He’s kinda freaking out, can’t stop crying ever since he saw Co-SHIT GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, FU-” The call disconnects.

Gavin’s eyes widen and he turns around, grabbing his leather jacket from where he’d shrugged it off onto the floor earlier.

Nines notes his quick reaction and follows right behind him. He thinks about the android boy, predicting multiple ways he could disclose to Gavin that the boy was an android before something goes wrong. Nines shakes his head. All the outcomes were regrettable. He’s already missed his chance.

Nines looks back at the television screen, sighing. He did not like the abrupt interruption in this rare bonding time, but he accepted it methodically. If they go back to the precinct, they may even get some more work done.

-

The day was fine. There was a new android that sort of looked like Connor. Gavin got chewed out by Fowler again. Tina teased Gavin. Nothing too unusual.

The night was terrible. The only thing that shocked Hank more than a child wanting _Gavin_ for comfort was a child literally ramming himself into the wall at the sight of _Connor_.

Hank saw Gavin 2.0 draw in another breath, and everyone swung their hands to their ears as the child gave another inhuman screech, trying to block out the discordant noise.

“Connor! Get the fuck outta here!” Hank yelled, hoping he would understand.

Connor turned around without question, red LED flashing violently fast. Fowler is sticking his head outside the door of his office, glaring daggers in their general direction.

By the time Hank turned back an android officer had pinned the boy by the arms. This is so wrong. So, so, so wrong. Everyone is frozen, wanting to intervene, yet afraid of aggravating the situation. This is by no means an acceptable way to treat a child, even if they were an android, but no one could think of a better idea at the moment. Tina was fuming at the android officer, and Chris is in the same stance as Hank, unsure yet wanting to step forward to help.

Hank hurriedly gives small Gavin a once over. No real damage done yet. That’s good.

He hears noise from across the bullpen, spinning around he sees Reed, rushing towards him with a frantic look on his face, a rare sight. Richard follows behind, he doesn’t rush like Gavin and his face is expressionless. Personally, Hank doesn’t have a problem with the RK900, he didn’t exactly have a say in being built as a replacement but Connor doesn’t seem to be able to look past that just yet. He hasn’t explicitly said anything about but Hank knows he’s upset because he spent the afternoon sulking Reed-style - that is, minus the shouting and excessive swearing. It’s hypocritical considering Connor’s issues with his own past but he certainly wasn’t going to tell _him_ that.  Ignoring him probably didn’t help, but Connor would get over it in his own time and it’s highly unlikely Hank would help speed up the process.

Hank sees Reed shoving Richard away, telling him to check with Connor. Hank frowns. Richard reluctantly nods, walking back outside where Connor was waiting. Hank observes Gavin approach Gavin...small Gavin? What the fuck, why couldn’t the kid choose a better name?

“Hey buddy, you alright? Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Hank blinks, is he imagining things? Who the fuck is this man that looks and sounds like Reed? Whatever he was doing was working, because Gavin had quickly quieted down. Even Tina seemed sort of in awe at the immediate effect, and she knows Reed better than anyone.

“My name’s Gavin now.” Hank’s head is reeling. No one else seems ready for another Gavin except...well, Gavin. His first impression seems to be shock, but after he recovers from that a grin spreads across his face.

“Nice name, kiddo. Why don’t I get you something to warm up. Ever heard of coffee?” Hank almost laughs out loud at that. Gavin Reed making coffee for an android. He must have been really lost in this hero-figure thing to remember that androids can only drink blue blood. This day could not get any weirder.

Small Gavin also seemed confused. “I don’t...I don’t drink stuff.”

Gavin doesn’t seem to get the hint. “Well, Gavin, I know you are kinda young to drink coffee, but it’s like the only thing we have in the police department.”

Hank frowns. _Too young to drink coffee._ Then it dawns on him. Reed doesn’t even know that the kid is an android. This really couldn’t get any worse.

Before he could dwell on that fact too much, small Gavin had strolled over to Hank’s desk, surprising him. Hank suddenly felt self conscious under his watch. The kid is way too solemn, even for an android. Hank breaks eye contact, looking over at Reed in hopes that he’ll drag him away.

Gavin suddenly shyly tip-toes next to Hank, as if trying to reach his ear to tell a secret. Hank jumps. When had he come so close? Shaking his head, he musters the best smile he can in the situation and kneels down to Gavin’s height.

“Hey, kid.”

“Lieutenant.” Hank backs away a little, surprised. He thought only more advanced models had access to personal information.

Small Gavin seemed to know what he was thinking. “Your badge. It was obvious.”

“Oh.” Hank flushed, embarrassed. He hasn’t had many interactions with children since Cole….well. He’s also pretty sure that most kids don’t pay attention to such detail. Androids really are different. Good different, but different nonetheless.

“I thought you were smart.” Hank turned back to Gavin, frowning. Do people always act like their namesake or is it just him? So much for good different.

“Well, humans do a lotta stupid things, kid. Why don’t you tell me why you don’t think I’m smart?”

“You can’t trust him, he’s bad! You can’t, you caN’T, YOU CAN’T!” Gavin was stomping his feet now, catching the eyes of many exasperated officers. Hank sighed, but his interest was piqued.

“Who? The big Gavin?” Small Gavin looked so offended that Hank laughed. He spies Reed strolling over with a pen in his hand.

“Alright, Gavin. Step away from the bad influence and I’ll show you some more pen tricks.” Reed tossed the pen into the air and caught it. Hank looked at him, unimpressed. Reed just clicks his tongue and winks (or blinks, Reed doesn’t really know how to wink) pointedly at small Gavin, who jumped up and followed him into the break room.

Hank didn’t complain, grumbling a bit but directing his attention towards the front of the precinct. Maybe he should check on Connor, just to see if he’s okay. He loves him a lot, although he had taken a considerable amount of time to accept that. Connor was and is a great help in Hank’s _everything_ , these days. Even the smallest thing he does, a smile, patting Sumo. Hank’s smiles softly at the thought.

He tried to ignore the giggles that were coming from the break room, but curiosity got the better of him. He strolls over to the entrance of the break room, leaning against the open door. The Gavins were too distracted to notice his presence.

“And…up! Whoops, there, caught it, flip that around aaaand...spin. Boom.” Hank blinks at the rare sight of Reed doing pen tricks. He had no idea he was capable of feats that require that amount of dexterity. What’s more, he was _smiling,_ and _w_ ith a _child._ Huh, maybe miracles do happen sometimes. He would have thought it was almost cute, if he weren’t so weirded out by the scene.

“Teach me!” Small Gavin demands, and Reed gives him a wolfish grin.

“Maybe some other day, Gavin. I have a bad guy to chase down right now. You can grab a couple of the department’s blankets and settle down for now, and I’ll work with Nines, we’ll find the guy that killed your dad, promise.”

He hold out his pinkie finger for the kid, who does the same, wrapping his small finger around Gavin’s and shaking it a couple times. They smile at each other and it’s so sweet Hank thinks he’s going to get a cavity if he watches the two any longer.

Turning to leave, he sees Richard walking towards them, obviously done talking with Connor - that is if Connor even spoke to him.

“Hey new guy, how’s Connor?” Richard turns to him, Hank may not have a problem with him but he can’t say their uncanny resemblance doesn’t creep him out.

“He didn’t say much, I believe he is uncomfortable in my presence due to my previous purpose, is that correct?”

“Uh… Yeah, don’t worry, he’ll get over it.”

“I do hope so.” Richard gives what he thinks is supposed to be a warm smile, the slight upturn of his lips is far from the goofy smile he’s used to but he smiles back anyway.

“I do too.”

-

Gavin’s face is starting to hurt for smiling more than he had in a lifetime, but he doesn’t mind. For once, a kid had willingly approached him. Most kids one just take one look at him and fuck off, but small Gavin seems pretty okay.

_You’re weak, Gavin._

_Fuck off, me._ Gavin pinkie-promises small Gavin that yes, he will definitely catch the bad guy if that’s the last thing he does. He feels kind of guilty for promising anything to Gavin. He’s never kept a promise before, but this was his job, so he might as well. Even the thought of sharing his pen tricks made himself feel...what? Like a weak attempt of a teacher? Someone who can be looked up to? Gavin looked down at the smiling kid. If this is the result of being nice, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

Gavin grimaced when he sees Nines walk into the break room. That glorified toaster sure knows how to break the mood. He can’t help but notice how the kid is regarding Nines with the same fear in his eyes like at the crime scene earlier that day.

Nines kneels down and holds out a hand to the other Gavin. “I can tell you don’t like me very much, but if you could show me what happened it would be a huge help towards helping us solve this case regarding your owner.”  Gavin froze. Nines really doesn’t know how to interact with people. He didn’t even introduce himself, and then describes the child’s dead father as his owner, like he’s some kind of object?

Gavin frowned. “How the hell are you gonna get evidence by shaking hands?” He really doesn’t want Nines touching the kid at all. Nines says nothing, staring at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to figure something out, but Gavin just couldn’t place it. It’s times like these where Gavin feels especially stupid, pissing him off anymore.  Sighing, he takes out the recording pen and tosses it at Nines.

“If you really want evidence so badly, take this. You should hold onto it anyways, I don’t wanna lose it.

The younger Gavin was clearly in distress now, looking back and forth between him and Nines, fidgeting his fingers.

“Hey-kid, wait-” Gavin grunted as small Gavin shoved past him and ran out the the door. Again. He could hear the groans of all the tired officers.

Gavin whirled at Nines, hissing furiously, “The fuck did you walk in for, prick, we were getting along fine until you showed!”

Nines was blinking, equally confused. That was a first. Gavin snorted.

“I...There was only a thirty percent chance that he would react negatively, so I-”

“Thirty percent? _Thirty percent?!_ Well, I’ll give you a fucking thirty percent after this!” Gavin knew that last part didn’t make sense, but he was too furious to think about it. What kind of freak has the ability to see that a child has a thirty percent chance of going batshit and still intervene?

Gavin jabbed his finger into Nines' chest, snarling.

“This isn’t over. We’re gonna have a long talk about your so-fucking-called ‘superior’ predictions.”

He ran out to see the other Gavin trembling at his desk, volatile.

His accusing eyes were almost as venomous as Nines’. Gavin has never felt so guilty, even though he has no idea what he did. Gritting his teeth, he tried to smile again, but couldn’t.

“Hey, kid.” Great going, Reed. Lovely choice of words. But what else could he have said? The more he thinks about it, the more he imagines himself in the child’s perspective, some weird greasy man saying ‘hey kid’ like some creepy stranger.

“You’re with the bad guys! You gave him the pen! I trusted you!” The kid’s voice broke, and so did a little of Gavin’s heart.

Richard had kept his distance, but he was shouting across the the room.

“Detective, his stress levels are nearing a hundred percent!” Gavin’s mind whirled chaotically. He had a plan, but is was crazy. He desperately looked over at Nines.

“Hey Dick, shut up for me for a sec and give me the pen!”

Richard was frowning, but Gavin didn’t care.

“Get a move on!” Nines blinked, tossing the pen across the precinct. Gavin snatched it midair and rolled it in front of the kid. He slowly walked forward, hands up.

“There, I’m uh...giving you the evidence, so maybe you can calm down a little? We can talk this through?” Gavin cringes at himself. He really wasn’t the best negotiator. That’s Connor’s line of work.

The child is staring at the pen at his feet, and Gavin hitches his breath when he picks it up.

“Um, yea! It’s alright n-” He falters when the smaller Gavin stares right into his eyes. Without removing eye contact, the child wraps his small hands around the pen, tightening and bending.

Finally the pen cracks under the pressure, breaking into splinters. The electrical contents inside spill out onto the ground, scattering.

“You will never get your evidence now.” There was a note of triumph in the child’s tone as he turned around.

“Gavin! His stress levels are up to a hun-” Gavin doesn’t hear any more as he watches the kid slam his head straight into the corner of his desk, letting out a broken, dissonant scream as he does so.

Gavin runs to the kid and freezes, unable to take his eyes off of the dent that has been formed in the kid’s head, skin disappearing to reveal a shiny, white casing. Apparently the first time wasn’t good enough because he does it again with even more force. The sharp corner of the metal desk pierces the casing, revealing an array of wires. A vibrant blue liquid seeps from the puncture as the kid’s limp body falls, he reaches his arms out to catch it, instantly soaking his shirt in the stuff.

 

_“I don’t...I don’t drink stuff.”_

_“... your owner.”_

_“How the hell are you gonna get evidence by shaking hands?”_

 

Blue. There was so much blue. On his hands. Sinking into his shirt. A mess of it spilling off the corner of his desk, dripping like syrup onto the ground. A mess of it leaking out of the forehead of the android.

 

He can’t hear anything above the sound of his own beating heart. The air was thick with the sickly smell of copper.

 

The entire surrounding seems to fall apart, leaving only him, the broken child, and the broken pen.

 

He was going to teach him how to flip a pen.

 

He could vaguely hear someone calling his name.

“Gavin.” He feels someone wrenching his shoulder, spinning him, leading him away. It was Richard. Gavin tried to focus on his LED flashing yellow, yellow, yellow.

 

There was so much blue.

 

The black eyes of the child, the lacerated forehead.

 

Gavin dazedly looked up to see Hank. He looked about as sick as he felt.

“Reed, your, uh, shirt.” Gavin looks around at everyone but they all avert their gaze.

Gavin finally swallows the rock in his throat to croak out “I’m gonna take a break” before stumbling to the restroom and retching into the nearest toilet.

Supporting himself by leaning his hands on the sink counter, he stares at the tired man in the mirror. His entire front was splatters of blue blood, across his face and drenching his shirt.

He doesn’t cry. His stupid mind was too prideful to even give him that relief in the precinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank for reading, ya'll are also welcome to yell with us on our Twumblers :)
> 
> white_carnations  
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	8. Reprimand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoyo, this shit's finally gonna start getting interesting and sorry this chapters a lil short compared to the past couple we had to split it cause it was getting too long, so the next chapter should be out in the next few days

Gavin had refused to go back to his apartment. If he insisted they stay at the precinct he could at least be doing some form of paperwork but he wasn’t and most likely couldn’t in his current state. They have no leads and no other cases to work. Well, he could attempt to salvage what remained of the pen, but it had been taken for evidence and he didn’t have access to the evidence lockers yet. He could ask Gavin, but in his current state he doubts he would agree to help.

His stress levels are bordering on critical and they just increase with each coffee he consumes. Every fifteen minutes he’ll leave and come back five minutes later with more traces of smoke. He’s pretty sure Gavin still thinks he doesn’t know about his smoking habit - for a detective it seems he can really be naive when he wants to be. Even an average human could tell that he had a serious addiction. If he’d somehow been able to cover up the smell Richard would still know as he has access to all the security cameras within the building, he has the feed from the camera in the parking lot playing in the corner of his HUD so he can keep an eye on the detective when he goes out.

It’s the fourth time now and Gavin has been ignoring his presence for the past hour, so when he leaves Richard waits until he can see him in the parking lot to join him. If he had left before Gavin had gotten outside he could have noticed he was following him and he was 40% more likely to talk to him when he had already started his cigarette, which wasn’t promising but it was something.

It’s dark outside, the sky is an inky black, no stars visible due to the pollution. Street lights are the only light source, gently illuminating their surroundings and hitting the high points of the detectives face, emphasising both the dark circles under his eyes and the large scar across his nose, which is unmissable even in the worst light. His trail of thought is brought back to the sliver of skin he’d seen earlier that evening and his desire to see more, but he forces himself to focus, there were much more prevalent things to discuss.

“You don’t need to hide your smoking from me, I’ve known since the second I entered your apartment.” Not the best way to start, he blames his lacking social module.

“I’m gonna ask you to kindly fuck off, I don’t need shit from anyone right now, _especially_ an android.” His tone is bitter and angry, he emphasises his point by giving a dismissive wave, his hand leaving cigarette smoke in its wake.

It seems his prejudices resurface when he’s upset.

“Chain smoking isn’t going to help the case or your health, detective.”

He tells himself to be more sympathetic. Richard doesn’t know how.

“Didn’t I just tell you to fuck off?” Gavin almost shouts, turning towards him, he takes a long drag before blowing all of it straight into his face without breaking eye contact. Gavin’s eyes are like ash but if he looked any angrier he thinks they’d reignite, flames flickering away and destroying whatever’s left of the man’s sanity. The thought disturbs him greatly but he’s not exactly sure how to improve their current situation without angering Gavin even more. He’d inhaled the smoke blown into his face and is tempted to repeat the man’s action but it is not the time and would only aid in escalating things.

At least that’s what his predictions tell him, Gavin is nothing if not unpredictable, but is it worth the risk? The thought of it sets something off in his programming and before he’s able to actually process the command he’s doing it. When the smoke clears he’s met with a face that reminds him off a bull, that is, if bulls were incredibly unintimidating. Gavin moves in closer and Richard has to do his best not to laugh at the fact he has to go on his tiptoes to be face to face with him.

Gavin reaches his right hand up and his face morphs into a sickening smirk. Before Richard can take account of this sudden change his processors detect an incoming object. That object turns out to be the hand Gavin was holding his cigarette in. He hears it sizzle out against his synthskin and can see the red of his LED reflecting off of the remaining smoke that floats between them. The cigarette butt drops onto the floor as Gavin lowers his hand, eyes still locked on Richard’s own.

Any ounce of sympathy he had for the man is gone. Richard doesn’t think he’s felt anger before, not like this. Rage floods his artificial veins. Despite conventional descriptions he still feels surprisingly calm, completely in control. He glowers at the man in front of him, unsure of what to do until two separate prompts appear in his HUD:

>> **Kiss Gavin**

~~> > **Kiss Gavin**~~

>> **Choke Gavin**

_Accepted_

He pauses at the first one, confused about its origin, but he doesn’t have the time to contemplate its existence right this second. Wrapping his fingers around the man’s throat with perfect precision he slams the detective’s pathetically weak human body into the solid brick wall. His feet are barely touching the floor and the only thing holding him up are the five digits wrapped tightly around his neck. Tightening his fingers slightly, he watches as Gavin gets more and more desperate for air, pondering the likelihood of Gavin knowing that he could crush his trachea any second if he wanted to.

Richard searches his eyes for fear but falters when he finds nothing of the sort.

His gaze flits around the man’s face, analysing Gavin’s current state. Dilated pupils, increased heart rate and to top it all off there’s his signature grin spread across his face. He’s not even _trying_ to get out of his grip. _Maybe he’s just being cocky_ , Richard thinks, so he increases his grip once more, completely cutting off his his supply of air. His intentions had been to wipe that overconfident grin off of his face, and it does but with it comes a strangled sound that Richard’s processors tell him is a moan.

As Gavin himself would put it: _What the fuck?_

Gavin’s eyes widen as Richard lets go, letting the human fall to the floor. He lets out a loud shout when he makes contact with the rough concrete of the parking lot, followed by a series of muttered curses.

“What the actual fuck do you think you’re doing? You know I can get you fired for that, right?” Richard doesn’t reply, instead assessing the damage. Nothing too bad, a few grazes and his thoat might bruise a little but no permanent or serious damage and despite the man’s tone his scans show obvious signs of arousal.

Offering Gavin his hand, the man hesitates a little before taking it gingerly. “I would apologise for my actions but it seems you rather enjoyed it.” Gavin’s face is flushed from being choked so it’s hard for him to tell if he’s blushing or not, but the immediate change in the detective’s body language gives him his answer. He’s embarrassed.

And what does Gavin Reed do when he’s embarrassed?

“I did fucking not, no one gets fucking turned on when someone’s tryna kill them. What do you think I am, some sort of masochist?”

That’s right, get defensive.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I think.”

Silence. Gavin completely averts his gaze. Subtlety is not Richard’s strong point.

“I’d like to remind you that _you_ assaulted _me_ first _,_ Gavin. You’re lucky, if I wasn’t such an advanced model that would have left permanent damage.”

“I’m going home, you can find somewhere else to stay for the night.” He storms off towards his truck with tears welling in his eyes, leaving a very confused Richard stood at the entrance to the DPD.

Acting like he has control of a situation is easy, it would be more difficult to actually convey how lost he was really feeling.

Sighing to himself, he watches Gavin’s F-150 Raptor pull out of the parking lot. He wants to follow Gavin but he knows it’s a bad idea. He’s already messed everything up and he hates himself for it

He attempts to break down everything that had just happened but struggles with assigning emotions to certain parts of it.

Everything became muddled after Gavin had decided to use his face as an ashtray. When he’d had his hand around Gavin’s throat he had felt something akin to what he thinks is excitement, setting off sparks in his programming that had spread like wildfire, making it a thrilling experience with a hint of satisfaction. He’d felt powerful, completely in control.

That doesn’t change the fact it was the wrong decision. What he thought was control was an illusion created by power. Gavin was clearly distraught at what has happened to the child. He’d lashed out and Richard had sunk to his level without a second thought.

Masking his inner emotions with ease, he makes his way back into the precinct. When he enters the bullpen everyone that’s still there turns towards him, their eyes tracking him as he walks to his terminal. There’s a lot of paperwork to do after this evening's events and he doubts Gavin will get round to doing it anytime soon so he may as well, considering he’s effectively been kicked out.

Before he can reach his terminal however, he’s stopped by Tina, who (like everyone else) has a rather serious expression on her face.

“Come with me, we need to talk.” She says in a hushed tone, he doesn’t see why she’s trying to be secretive as everyone in the room is already staring, but he obliges. He doesn’t know where they’re going, the only reason he knows his way around is because he has the floor plan.

They’re approaching the interrogation rooms. He supposes they’re a good enough place to have a private conversation. When they reach the rooms at the end of the corridor he watches as she places her palm against the scanner until it flashes green. The door opens and he’s ushered inside.

Tina sits in the chair closest to the door and motions for him to sit opposite her. Every ounce of his core programming tells him that it’s wrong, he should be the interrogator, the one demanding answers. He ignores his programming pretty much screaming at him and obliges - this isn’t a real interrogation, they’re only here because it provides privacy, where he sits is not important.

Sitting in the metal chair, he places his hands in his lap, he’s desperate to do something with his hands but he knows fidgeting is considered rude.

“Tina? What is-” Richard grunts in surprise as his sensors register a hand coming into contact with his face, a human would have recoiled at the impact but he stayed stock still, completely unaffected minus the shock of it. The synthskin around his jaw adjusts itself and he stares at Tina, shocked if not impressed by the strength and daring of such a small human.

“That was purely on principle, I couldn’t really call myself his friend if I didn’t do that to someone who choked him, right?” Tina says lightly, staring hard into Richard’s eyes, he assumes Gavin had taken the time to text her what had happened. He doesn’t break eye contact, not the kind to submit, but registers the message nonetheless.

“Could you kindly explain why you have brought me here, Officer Chen.” He asks with a tone of politeness that he should not be using when talking to someone who just hit him, but he has already forgiven her actions considering her closeness to Gavin - she knew her hit would not damage him. He had taken issue with Gavin’s actions as his intentions - in the right state of mind or not -  were most definitely to harm him.

“You androids really have an issue with using people’s first names, you know that? Connor’s just as bad, he still calls Hank ‘Lieutenant’ occasionally.”

“It’s embedded into our core programming and therefore not an easy habit to break.” Connor has probably already explained it to her in a similar way but he says it anyway, if only to progress the conversation.

“Anyway, I needed to talk to you without any of those nosey fuckers listening in, unlikely anyone’s gonna bother us in here. You saw everyone staring at you when you came back in right?”

He nods, how could he not have noticed a whole room of people staring at him?

Tina lets out a tired sigh “Yeah, that’s because Connor projected the security footage from outside, everyone that was in the bullpen knows what happened with you and Gav apart from Fowler.”

“Oh.” Not only had he done something he already regretted, a large number of his co-workers had watched the event unfurl. _Wonderful._

“Actually, everyone’s pretty impressed you put him in his place, although I think they might be a tad bit scared of you now.” That’s one positive, but that does not make up for the countless negatives.

They sit in silence for while as Richard tries to process all the implications.

“Offier Ch- Tina, can I ask you a question concerning Gavin’s behaviour?” Using Tina’s name in place of her title proved difficult but with some effort he managed to correct himself, bypassing deeply ingrained programming.

“We are here to talk about Gavin, Iron Giant.” Tina gives him a grin not entirely dissimilar to Gavin’s, albeit a little forced considering the circumstances.

“Gavin’s response to my actions was rather unusual, I was wondering if you could give me insight as to why?”

“You referring to the fact he was clearly having the time of his life?” He had not thought about it that way but he had to say, her description was rather fitting.

“Yes, usually a human would show signs of fear, he didn’t even struggle.”

“Well, he’s a bit fucked in the head if you couldn’t tell by now.”

“So he enjoys pain?”

Tina lets out a loud laugh. “That’s putting it lightly.”

Richard decides to change the topic of conversation, this is something he could discuss later, hopefully with Gavin instead of Gavin’s best friend.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Tina’s expression is full of worry but her tone is reassuring. “The thing with the kid’s gonna take him a while to get over, he has a tendency to hold onto things and he probably blames himself. He’ll close himself off for a while but he’ll be okay. Give him time.”

“How much time?” Richard doesn’t like not knowing specifics, especially when it comes to time.

“There’s no telling with Gav, he’s the definition of unpredictable, Māo Māo.”

“...What did you just call me?” He recognises the nickname as the Chinese word for cat but does not understand why she is referring to him as such. His focus should be on what she said about Gavin but as usual his programmed curiosity takes priority against his own will.

“Seems you and Gavin are getting along as well as Tom and Jerry, and Gavin’s clearly a rodent in the form of a human, so you’re Tom.” Her smile is more menacing now. “Or would you rather be Sylvester and Tweety?” He identifies her references to cartoon shows from her and Gavin’s youth but still does not understand the point she is making with the nickname.

She clearly registers his silence as confusion, or maybe his expressions are more telling than he realizes as she tells him to forget about it, before getting up to leave.

They both return to their respective terminals and Richard makes a start on the paperwork that needs to be done, trying his best not to think too much about anything regarding Gavin. There’s nothing keeping him here but it’s not like he can go back to the apartment and he doesn’t exactly have anywhere else to go. As much as he wants to help Gavin he knows the man would not appreciate any company.

By the time he’s finished the necessary paperwork he and Tina are the only people left from the day shift. She’s preparing to leave and he observes her movements in his peripherals, surprised when she makes a beeline towards his desk instead of the exit.

“Māo Māo?” It seems the nickname was already there to stay, he can’t say he’s adverse to it, he enjoys the affectionate tone she uses when she says it.

He looks up and she takes that as enough of a response. “Your shift ended hours ago, you not got anywhere to go?”

“Gavin told me to find somewhere else to stay tonight, I was planning on staying here considering it is my only real option.”

“Nope! No it’s not, you’re coming with me, no way am I letting you stay here by yourself.”

“Are you sure?” Richard didn’t know he could sound so unsure, Tina’s unexpected kindness had caught him off guard.

“Did I fucking stutter? You heard me, take it or leave it, Ironman.”

Then they’re back in the parking lot and Richard is doing his best to hide his red LED from Tina but it’s almost pitch black, making it difficult to hide any source of light at all. She does glance over, although she is not a detective, she is more than capable of adding two and two together. Giving him a pitiful look, she thankfully turns away without comment and they make it all the way to Tina’s car in a comfortable silence.

The car in question is a white Honda Civic, completely pristine as if it hasn’t seen a single molecule of dirt in it’s life. They both get in and Richard immediately noticies the large difference in size compared to the inside of Gavin’s truck, it is also a lot less spacious and he finds it hard to get his long limbs into a position he considers comfortable.

Richard doesn’t know where Tina lives but they’re getting closer and closer to Gavin’s apartment. He doesn’t say anything, not even when she stops right outside. Although a dull panic rises in his chest when he notices Gavin’s truck isn’t outside.

“Fuck.” She mutters under her breath.

“Tina, why are we here?” His question gains him an incredulous look.

“Gavin’s my closest friend, I wanted to at least check on him, but the fuckers not even home.” She attempts to hide it but her worry is evident in her voice.

“He took his truck, he could be anywhere.” As usual, his social module prevents him from being helpful, his words heavily contradicting to the anxiety slowly building in his chest. Until a couple of days ago he wasn’t even aware androids could be anxious.

“Well, can’t you track his phone or something?”

“I can, but Gavin has not given me permission to-”

“Like you give a shit about permission.”

“Okay, but let the record state I am not happy about this.”

“Just get on with it.”

It takes him a couple minutes to locate the whereabouts of Gavin’s phone and he projects it from his hand so that Tina can see. The main reason he does it is because he’s not completely sure why Gavin is in the middle of nowhere next to the Detroit River and he hopes a more visual view of the location will allow her to shed light on the situation.

She lets out a sigh of relief when she looks at the small map. “Thank god, he’s at Kamski’s.”

“Elijah Kamski?”

“Yeah.” Tina replies with a hint of amusement.

“Why is he with Elijah Kamski?”

“They’re half-brothers, they haven’t spoken in years so I’m not sure why he’s there, but at least he’s somewhere safe.”

Now that is strange, his file states that Gavin is an only child, however Richard can see why the information may have been omitted. As a homicide detective he deals with the press often enough without also being connected to one of the richest men alive and he knows without being told that Gavin hates reporters.

Looking more relaxed now, Tina pulls out onto the road, informing Richard that her house isn’t  too far from Gavin’s and that they will be there soon. Not that it matters, there is nothing urgent he needs to do and he likes to think he’s rather patient. Although when it comes to Gavin Reed his patience seems to run thin, a prime example being their earlier incident.

He’s not sure why but he keeps the location of Gavin’s phone in his HUD. Really, he shouldn’t be worried, Gavin’s a grown man and a cop, surely he can handle himself. But he can’t help thinking that this is all his fault. If he’d just thought a bit more-scratch that- a _lot_ more about what he was saying then maybe Gavin wouldn’t have left, and they might have been able to work on the case. But who was he kidding, his social module was a cage, trapping all his deviant emotions away

“See, that’s the problem with you, Ironman.” Richard snaps his head towards Tina. Had he been saying his thoughts out loud?

Richard realized that she’d been observing him while he was thinking to himself. Playing his memory of the last couple minutes back to himself he realises that he had, in fact, been thinking out loud. He’s always so aware of what he was doing, what’s wrong with him? Just the idea of not being in full control of what he’s doing makes him uncomfortable and he feels a phantom shiver down his artificial spine.

“What did I do?”

Tina glances back at him. She poked at his chest, he didn’t appreciate the sudden contact but ignored his minds suggestions to do something about it, Tina meant him no ill will.

“You blame too much on your core programming, isn’t the whole point of deviancy supposed to be that you’re more than your programming? Don’t be so frustrated with yourself! Hey, you could learn from Connor, he’s so good at talking we can’t get him to shut up most of the time.”

That was not fair.

Unlike Connor, Cyberlife had not installed anything in Richard to help him integrate with other people. His personality matrix had been specifically designed so he did not have the same ‘issues’ as his predecessor; they had omitted the programs that allowed him to work harmoniously with humans, that allowed him to express a full range of emotion. He must have looked somewhat perturbed, because Tina hastily dismissed what she said with a wave.

“Well, this is my place. Come on, Mao.”

Richard sat in the car a little longer, thinking about Tina’s comment about Connor. Then he ran through his own coding, trying to figure out what made Connor so special. The effect Tina’s words had on him were no fault of her own, there was no possible way for her to understand the complexities of the differences between their social modules.

“Nines? You coming or not?” Richard looked out the window, Tina was waiting for him outside her door.

“Coming, Tina.”

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	9. Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin visits his brother and is horny. But not at the same time, ew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second part, gonna slap a big nsfw warning on the end of this one, enjoy

Gavin’s on his third pack of cigarettes that day.  His entire room is a mess again, books and magazines scattered on the floor, jackets ripped off the hangers and strewn all over the ground. The walls of his room now have a couple new dents from various objects being chucked against it in a fit of rage. Somehow he’d managed to punch a hole through the door, leaving him bleeding with splinters in his knuckles. The dull ache of his muscles coupled with the stinging areas where splintered wood had punctured his skin was soothing - after all, it’s only a fraction of what he deserved. 

Fascinated by the tiny droplets of scarlet that blossomed when he removed the sharp pieces of wood, he’d spent a good chunk of time staring at them as they grew until gravity turned them into streams of crimson running down his scarred hands. It didn’t take long for salty tears to mingle with the blood, swirling together in a weird dance before the clear liquid diluted the vibrant red into a cloudy pink as he thought about the blue blood that stained his own clothes. It was already starting to disappear but he knew it was still there, whether he could see it or not.

He’s now sitting on his bed, sighing out a waft of smoke into the stuffy room. He stares straight at the small android carcass in the corner, wishing he could be engulfed by the large void in its black scleras and dissolve into nothingness. 

He’d promised him he’d solve the case.

Another inhale of the cigarette. Another puff of smoke.

Fowler had refused his request to bring it home because it was technically still evidence not to mention how many levels of fucked up it was to let one of his detectives take an android carcass home with him. Desperate to escape the gaze of all his co-workers in the bullpen, he’d persisted but to no avail, eventually Nines had intervened and managed to persuade the Captain.

_ “I’m gonna work on the case at home, I’m also using it as evidence. Please.” The Captain looked shocked at the desperate tone that laced his voice. _

_ “You know I can’t let you do that, Reed.” Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes but he refused to let them fall. “I don’t understand what you’d do with it anyway, do you even have any idea how androids work?”  _

_ He heard the door open behind him and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on ends, he knew without looking it was Nines. _

_ “Captain.” His voice was void of emotion, did the fucker even care that he was part of the reason the kid just offed himself? _

_ Fowler made a gesture for the android to continue. “My enhanced hearing means I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.” Well that was complete bullshit, even he knew their hearing was something they could control. “And I think you should let us take the YK500, it will allow me assess the damage and discern whether we can salvage any of his memories.” _

_ Fowler shakes his head at the two of them. “Do you know how much shit I can get into if I let you do this?” _

_ Nines just nods while Gavin stays silent, unwilling to be involved in this conversation any longer. Silence fills the air around them for a good couple of minutes, he feels sick, guilt settles heavy in his stomach and he wishes urging would get rid of the horrid feeling. _

_ After what feels like forever Fowler lets out a defeated sigh. “Fine, but you bring it back first thing tomorrow and if it’s anymore damaged than it already is you’re both suspended indefinitely.” _

_ “Yes Sir.” Nines says, exiting the room and leaving Gavin, broken and shaking, struggling to make his legs move. _

He’s done too many nice things today and too many bad things happened. Everything was fucked up. He’d been weak, thinking he could let his guard down, obviously he was wrong. In the end Gavin thinks he only agreed out of pity for him but he was too broken to care anymore. 

The real reason he wanted it was that he couldn’t stand the image of a small child who’d just taken their own life getting hung up on a rack like some sort of sick display. Gavin felt like throwing up all over again at the thought.

So now it’s lying on the floor in Gavin’s torn up bedroom. Big improvement.

It’s all his fault, really. He didn’t realize the kid was an android, and he never really gave anyone a chance to tell him. He didn’t make the right choice to prevent the child from killing itself, and now he’s technically stolen a robot. Wonderful.

He’d actually fallen for the trick. Gavin squinted, staring at the child. Its father had probably wanted to trick himself too into thinking that the android was a human too. Kid androids were legally the only androids who could remove their tracking LED before the revolution, it made it easier to believe the illusion. Gavin frowned. Everything felt off, but what else is new? He hates himself, the only difference is that right now it’s a hell of a lot more than usual. 

Something soft is nudging against his elbow. Gavin looks for the source. His cat is looking up at him with soft amber eyes. They’re the kindest eyes he’s seen all day. 

Gavin sighs, wincing as a little smoke billowed out of his mouth towards Dipshit.

“Hey, whatcha doing here? You’ll suffocate in this room. Don’t want you getting cancer or some shit.” 

Gavin groans a little while opening all the windows in house, trying to air out the smoke. He hates it when his cat seems uncomfortable.

Kind of hypocritical, Gavin thought wryly. He doesn’t mind killing himself a little. No one would mind anyways. Except maybe Dipshit; no one would feed her then. Well, maybe  _ Richard  _ would.

God,  _ Nines. _ He REALLY doesn’t want to open that can of worms right now. He tries his best to block out the memory of what went down less than a couple hours ago: his domineering eyes full of authority; his long, slender fingers wrapping around his throat, slamming him against the wall as if he weighed next to nothing. He tries to push any thought concerning what Nines could do with his hands away, now was not the fucking time. 

Gavin trudges into the kitchen, swinging open his fridge he pulls out two six packs of beer and lugs them to the living room, he can’t stand being in the same room as the poor kid anymore, just knowing it’s in his house is torture enough. Not quite making it to the sofa, he collapses onto the floor and cracks open the first can.Taking a sip, he stares at the blank TV screen, it’s black, reflective surface too similar to the eyes of the corpse just a corridor away from him.

He quickly finishes off the first can. Then another, desperately wishing he had something stronger so he could forget faster. The familiar bitterness is somewhat comforting but he craves the burning sensation in his throat that a shot of whiskey would give him. But here he is, drinking cheap lager by himself because he’s too poor to afford spirits.

Now, he wants to get completely wasted, flushing out everyone and everything with booze.But the boy was there. His dented head at a crooked angle. 

_ He was gonna teach him pen tricks. _

That’s it. Gavin downs the rest of his third beer, crushing the empty can in his hand before grabbing the carcass from his room. He tries to haul it outside without alerting any of his neighbours, when he gets to his truck he dumps it unceremoniously onto the back seat. Thinking twice, he goes back into his apartment to retrieve the rest of the beer, securing them gently onto the seat next to him. He even uses the seatbelt, just in case. They’re going on a ride and he needs them within arms reach at all times.

-

Drink driving is fun. It helps him focus, at least that’s what drunk Gavin tells himself.

He actually had to make an effort to not get caught by the cops. If he did, the consequences would be humiliating. He’d played this game many times before, and he always won. This time was easier than the rest. The road to Eli’s place was wide and empty, with snow surrounding both sides, so the chance of survival was in the better odds. 

Gavin takes a swig of beer, gripping the wheel with his other hand. He’s hitting the exact speed limit. If his head was clear, he would have gone twenty above, but in his current state its not worth the risk of getting caught.

Once he arrives, he fumbles around with his keys, picking out the one he had only used once before. He unlocks the door to what is basically a mansion, kicking it open as loud as he can. 

There he was, Elijah Kamski himself, calm as ever, waiting for him. One of the Chloe’s probably informed him there was a truck outside. Gavin never really liked the face of his half brother, too cold for comfort.

He wasn’t drunk enough for the his face to be blurry but there was definitely a fuzzy edge surrounding everything he tried to focus on. Squinting, he makes out what he guesses is Eli’s beloved RT600 stood behind him.

“Gavin, welcome. It’s been too--are you drunk?” There was a softness in his voice, edging on concern, but Gavin couldn’t give less of a shit, he wasn’t here for some big reunion.

“Maybe just a little, but that’s none of your fuckin’ business you robot fucker.” 

He hears Elijah step towards him in that ridiculously slow pace of his. 

“What do you want?”

Gavin assumes a hurt look. 

“What makes you think that I wanted something from you? Maybe I just wanted to visit my baby brother!”

“I’m  _ older  _ than you, just because I don’t look it doesn’t make it any less true. You’re definitely drunk. Chloe, go outside and get a bucket of snow. ”

Gavin stopped Chloe, setting his hand on her shoulder. “Hey Sophia..can I call you Sophia?”

Before Chloe could answer, he continued, “Sophia, there’s a kid in the back of my truck. Get it for me, sweetheart.”

Chloe slapped his hand away disdainfully, her words were simple but charged with venom. “I only serve Mr. Kamski.” 

Gavin stares at Chloe’s back with wide eyes as she struts out of the manor with a bucket. He turns back to Elijah in disbelief.

“Jesus, Eli, they’re sassier than you.” He says with a drunken giggle and he sees Eli give up on trying to smile.

“She chose to stay here, Gav. Getting to the point, did you just say you have a kid in your truck?”

Gavin sighs, suddenly more aware of his surroundings. He feels like shit.

“Yeah, about that.” Shifting from one foot to another as he coughs a few times, giving himself a break to think, trying to make sense after two six packs was a hard task.

“Remember all those time I stole food from Grandma Sammy’s house for us whenever Robert and Mom were too busy arguing to feed us?”

“Why are you mentioning this right now?”

“I don’t know Eli, I’ve had twelve cans of larger in the past two hours, maybe so you would know I wasn’t always an asshole?” He says, trying not to slur every word that leaves his mouth.

“You stole from our Grandmother, Gav, that’s not exactly a nice thing to do.”

“Grandma Sammy was a homophobic prick just like the rest of the family.” Gavin mutters spitefully, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

“Did you really come here to start petty arguments about our childhood?”

“Listen Eli, this is serious.” His statement is contradicted by the whiny way he drags out the last word.

“How can you be serious about anything when you’re drunk?”

Chloe chooses that moment to walk over, holding a bucket of snow. Kamski glaces from the bucket to Gavin, who tries to follow his gaze but finds moving his eyes to be a strenuous task. Everything around him becomes wobbly and he blinks rapidly, trying to stabilize himself. 

“Chloe, dear, my poor excuse for a brother is not in his right mind. I only talk to sober guests. Go ahead.”

Gavin’s eyes widen, looking at Chloe just in time to see her smirk before a rush of white is hurled towards him. He splutters, cursing profusely. Once he gets ahold of himself, he glares at Chloe, who glares right back at him. 

The soft snow immediately starts to melt from his body temperature and he can feel the dampness overtake his clothes. Letting out a frustrated noise, somewhere between and grunt and a sigh, he turns back to the man in front of him. 

Well, being wasted didn’t last anywhere near long enough. He was nowhere near sober though, walking the line between drunk and tipsy. He feels some of his dreaded emotions coming back, overrunning the quiet of his mind that had come with his drunken state. Head swimming with guilt, he fights back tears - he was here for reason.

“Dead android. Back of truck.” He manages to get out, pointing a thumb in the general direction of his truck and cursing at how weak he sounds, but it’s better than the sobs continues to hold back.

Kamski shares a look with Chloe, as if they were communicating in the same way androids do. She gives him a nod, clearly having understood whatever Eli was trying to convey. Walking past Gavin, she reaches into his pocket and extracts his keys with ease. Letting out a huff, he watches as she open the back door of his truck and pulls out the deceased android.

“Holy shit.” Elijah whispers so quietly Gavin can barely make it out in his intoxicated state.

“What, did you think I was fuckin’ lying?” He can hear the irritation in his own voice.

“What the fuck, Gav?” His voice is raised, he’s not quite shouting but Gavin winces at the change in volume.

“Is it not clear enough for you? Should I say it slowly? Dead. Fucking. Android. Kid.” He knew his anger was unsolicited, he’d showed up at the fuckers door for the first time in years with a goddamn corpse, if this was the other way around he would have slammed the door in his stupid face already.

Chloe moved so she was stood next to Gavin and Elijah moved to the side so she could enter. As she walked past he glanced at the boy, all the thirium had dissipated and you could clearly see the extent of the damage. With his best efforts he manages to pull his eyes away, it was the last thing he wanted to look at right now. 

“What do you want me to do with it, just snap my finger and fix him? Because I have some news for you, that’s not how it works.” Elijah’s voice is taut, Gavin had a way of testing people’s patience and his half-brother was no exception.

“Do you think I know how those fuckin’ toasters work, Eli? That’s supposed to be your area of expertise since you invented the bloody things!” He’s the one shouting now, his own ears ring at the noise of his own voice. 

“Firstly, I’m not even gonna ask you how you ended up with it.”

“Wasn’t gonna tell you.” Elijah rolls his eyes 

“Look, I’ll try to fix him but I can’t promise anything, at first glance the puncture- “

“You can stop right there, already got it ingrained into my brain, don’t need to hear you describe it.” He holds up in hands in a mock surrender, plastering a wide grin onto his face while his mind fought the urge to break down right there and then.

He’s not sure why he’s trying to hide his emotions from him, Eli can see right through his facade, even after all these years Gavin knows he can still read him like an open book. Yet some part of him prevents him from letting it all out, he doesn’t want to openly show how weak and broken he is even if his sibling already knows from just looking at him. 

“Thanks Eli.” He replies, wincing as he hears the roughness of his own voice.

“I’ll get one of my Chloe’s to drive you back.”

“No, nope. Noooo, not happening. Not necessary.”

“Gavin, you’re clearly intoxicated, I don’t know how you got here without dying.”

“Not my first rodeo, bro.” He chuckles lightly at his own expense.

Elijah brings his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Jesus, Gavin. What happened to you?”

“What  _ happened  _ to me?” He replies angrily, voice raising an octave. “Our shitty family is what the fuck happened to me and you know it.”

“I can’t deal with you blaming your shitty life decisions on our family right now Gavin, just go home.” He calls for one of his Chloe’s and Gavin wants to refuse but he knows putting up a fight will get him nowhere. He resigns himself to being chauffeured home by one of his half-brother’s shitty plastics, muttering profanities under his breath.

Chloe’s in the driver’s seat and he’s about to get into the passengers side when he hears Eli calling over to him. 

Snapping his head towards the door, he sees a soft expression on the man’s face, it reminds him of their childhood, when their parents issues had brought the two brother close. Being the older brother, Eli was the one that comforted Gavin on many occasions, the Elijah Kamski he knew back then was a far shout from the one the media knew today. Maybe, in his own weird way, Eli did still care about him. Or maybe that was just the alcohol making him sentimental.

“You’re welcome to come see me when you’re sober, I do miss you, you know.” 

Gavin feels a soft smile ghost over his lips, but quickly shakes himself out of it, telling himself it’s definitely the alcohol that’s making a warm feeling of nostalgia for his childhood blossom in his chest. He lets out a long sigh as he slams the door, the cold night air turning it into wisps of white reminiscent of the cigarette smoke he wishes it was. But he’d left his smokes back at his apartment, so he’d have to wait. Leaning forward in his seat, he rubs his temples, wishing Chloe would drive them straight off a cliff so he wouldn’t have to deal with how fucked his own life was anymore.

-

Stray tendrils of light from the street sneak through the curtains of his bedroom, caressing the darkness. It highlights the coils of smoke a brilliant white in the dimly lit room. A cool breeze flows through the ajar window, breaking apart the perfectly formed wisps. 

Gavin lets out a low groan, running his shaking hands up and down his face. His stubble scratches the skin on his hands and he winces as it catches on his injured knuckles. He does it again, agonizingly slowly, savoring the stinging pain. 

When they got back Chloe had tried to insist on coming up to his apartment as Elijah had instructed her to keep an eye on him, but he’d refused, telling her to enter stasis in his truck or find a way home. He didn’t care if his billionaire half-brother cared about him, he needed his apartment to himself.

After only an hour of sleep he’d woken up in a cold sweat, the memory of the kid slamming his head into the sharp corner of his desk playing of repeat in his mind. 

Any attempts to go back to sleep failed, every time he closed his eyes image of the kid’s punctured skull dripping thirium onto his own clothes while he cradled him in his arms flashed behind his eyes. He doesn’t understand, his eyes were so full of life, how could he possibly have been an android? None of what happened makes any sense to him, not when he was sober and not when he was drunk. Yes, Nines wasn’t exactly strategic about the way he spoke to the child but how could that possibly have caused his stress levels to reach 100%? All their knowledge of the situation didn’t add up to anything that made logical sense, his head throbs from the stress of it all - or maybe it was the alcohol, or both, he wasn’t completely sure how to tell.

Eventually, he’d managed to get thoughts of the boy out of his head. Unfortunately for him, they were replaced with very different thoughts concerning a very different android. Black, empty scleras were replaced with cold, grey irises, glaring and full of distaste. 

It was so wrong, so fucking wrong. The last thing he wanted to think about was anything even remotely related to androids but he couldn’t get the bloody toaster out of his head. As much as he tries to fight it some part of his brain continues to fixate on a different memory from earlier that day. Of Nines pinning him against the wall, easily able to fit his large hands around Gavin’s neck, slowly tightening his grip until he could barely breathe. 

His stupid, touch-starved body had gotten too caught up in it to do anything and he’d ended up embarrassed and flustered on the floor, wishing he could just melt into the concrete instead of having to deal with whatever the fuck just happened. The plastic prick could have killed him and his brain still decided the best response was arousal - what the  _ fuck  _ is wrong with him?

What’s even worse is that just thinking that the android could have killed him is contributing to his growing problem. He tried not to give in to his own urges but despite his own ridiculous front he puts up Gavin Reed is a  _ very  _ weak man and after the day he’d had his brain was looking for anyway to escape. He doesn’t care if jacking off on the same day as witnessing a suicide is fucked up, because fucked up is exactly what he is. For a while he wants to let his hormones take over, he’ll deal with the regret later.

Lifting his hand to his neck, he gently trails his fingers across the tender skin where Nines’ own had been, replicating the position of his hand but struggling to match it up exactly as the androids slender hands are larger than his own. He presses down on the forming bruises, the harder he presses the bigger the rush he gets as his body responds, it grounds him and as he thinks back to the ecstatic feeling of oxygen returning to his veins a soft moan passes between his lips.

Dragging his blunt nails of the hand not currently occupied down his torso, he opens his eyes to watch as the blood rises to the surface of his scarred skin, leaving angry red lines across his abdominal. His hand travels lower until it slips under the waistband of his sweatpants, he rests it against his right leg, stroking repetitive lines down his inner thigh.

He’s half hard as he takes his cock in his hand, stroking it slowly, imagining a paler, smoother hand in the place of his own. Thinking of how it would feel if Nines was above him, all lean artificial muscle and perfect skin, he wonders if the light spatter of moles he’s seen on his face spanned the rest of his body.

As his eyes drift shut he becomes invested in his own fantasy, it’s been way too long since he’s gotten laid. Bringing home guys he met at the bar for one night was okay but after awhile it lost its novelty. They never stuck around and he never wanted them to, in and out of his life just like that. Sure, maybe commitment wasn’t exactly his thing, but a body count that went up weekly wasn’t something he was proud of either.

He pumps his shaft a few more times, completely hard now. The image of Nines fluttered around his consciousness; thinking about what he might look like under the tight fitting black fabric of his shirt, how their hands would travel each others bodies. Nines would trace his scars and the outline of individual muscles while roughly dragging his teeth along his shoulder. 

Pausing, he nearly reconsiders what he’s doing but the version of Nines his imagination has conjured up looks at him with half-lidded eyes, batting his dark lashes at him the same way he had at the crime scene that afternoon. A lot had happened since then, but that’s the part he’s trying to forget so he tightens his grip, quickening his pace as fantasy Nines straddles his hips, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. 

Gavin’s not quiet at all, in fact, he doesn’t try to be. His past one-night-stands had teased him about that before, but he’s fine with that. The louder, the rougher, the better. It shuts out all other thoughts from his head, blocking out all his problems, even if just for a few moments. His breath starts to become erratic as he nears the climax, stroking himself at a more uneven pace as he bucks his hips into his hand at the same time. He bites his knuckles to prevent himself from yelling when relief when he hits the peak. 

Letting the afterglow wash over him, he sighs, covering his eyes with his forearm. He doesn’t bother to clean up his own mess, he’ll deal with it in the morning. The hormones rushing through his body have left his head clear for now so he tries to drift off.

Regret and horror had already started setting in as soon as he stares at his ceiling. The image of Nines is back again, except this time scenes of Nines humiliating him appear. God. Why did he think of that stupid microwave when he was fucking jerking off, he’s dying of embarrassment right now. The choking scene outside the precinct, Nines interrupting him and smaller Gavin, that freaking thirty percent. 

Gavin tiredly rolled to his side.

“Fuck.”

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	10. Another Day, Another Murder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Richard struggles with overthinking, another body turns up and Gavin decides to (kind of) pull himself together for the sake of the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been 87 yeaaars... 
> 
> no really though, it's be a long ass time so sorry about that, but i've had god awful writers block and this is just a hobby so i don't wanna stress myself out about it, either way this one's relatively long so hope you enjoy!
> 
> (also radioactive berry didn't help me write this chapter, but she did beta read it so i wanna say thank you and you should still go check her our bc she's wonderful)

Tina had retired to her bedroom for the evening and Richard sat in her living room, struggling for the first time in his short life to enter stasis.

Guilt was a new emotion for Richard, it burrowed into him and spread like a disease. It wasn’t at the forefront of his mind but it was there, festering. He replayed the events leading up to the YK500’s self destruction over and over until listening to his own words started to make his artificial brain ache. 

Not a single a one of his pre-constructions involved the android self destructing, a very limited percentage actually ended in any harm coming to him at all. Inaccurate calculations are practically impossible in a model as advanced as his, unless there is crucial data missing, but he fails to see what he could have missed. If a state of the art android such as himself wasn’t even prepared for the android’s reaction then there’s no way a human could have predicted and adapted in time to save him. 

It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t. 

Gavin didn’t seem to agree, it was the first thing he’d said to him when he’d returned to his terminal. Richard could tell without scanning him that he was completely emotionally and physically drained but his eyes held dark storms, striking lightning straight into his thirium pump as he told him everything that had happened was his fault.

Despite all logic, after hours of consideration he was starting to think he might be right. 

It’s  _ his  _ calculations that were wrong. He’s the state of the art android, the best Cyberlife made before the revolution stopped production of new models. He should have been able to stop it, should have been more observant, should have acted faster. 

He’s pretty sure at this point he’s doing what humans refer to as ‘spiraling’ but he’s not sure how to stop it. Apparently being a deviant with incredibly fast processing power makes you excel at overthinking  _ everything.  _ Wonderful.

Richard scans the living room, looking for someway to distract himself. Nothing was out of the ordinary. There was a shelf filled with picture albums and books, but Richard knew better than to go through a person’s belongings. A person he respected, anyways. He checked his internal clock. It was two in the morning, but he didn’t enter stasis. His body was in optimal condition; he could afford skipping for the night, but that didn’t make sitting idly any less boring or monotonous. 

Settling with going through any memory from the day that didn’t involve the YK500, he was mildly surprised at the stream of input and memories flashing. So much had happened in a single day compared to his usual, uneventful life. 

He stalled a little at the memory of choking Gavin.

Yet another mistake to add to the list. Being self aware isn’t all it’s made out to be.

He replays that scene thirty eight times, constructing thirty eight better ways he could have handled the situation. There was only one reason for why he reacted poorly.

Richard shakes his head tiredly. Can androids really be tired? Was this another quirk from deviancy? Getting exhausted, getting angry, emotions are hard to handle. But even so, he’s starting to learn how to appreciate it. Emotions are one of the few proofs that he was alive.

Tina’s cat is sat on his lap, purring gently. He cards his fingers through the feline’s fur, it’s comforting in a way but does little to distract from his thoughts of the detective. He’d already grown attached to Gavin’s small tabby cat despite her name, and he found himself missing not only her, but her owner. 

He had been consumed with anger.

He continues sifting through memory after memory.

Richard winds to the events after the disaster with the child android. Amidst the chaos and everyone’s focus on Reed dazedly stumbling around, he had managed to quietly gather the broken pieces of the pen the child had dropped without anyone noticing.

Taking the small ziploc bag he’d hidden in his pocket, he pours the contents into the palm of his hand. Carefully, he starts to remove the simple recording device from the cracked plastic casing. Despite the child’s intent, the insides remain for the most part unharmed. 

Handling such an old device is a strange thing for Richard. At some point in the past a recording device similar to the one he holds in his own hand would have been the latest in technological advancements. A title once given to such a simplistic thing is a title that was given to him upon his creation. 

It’s just another reminder that emotions or not, he is still just a machine. He knows that it’s a concept that many androids struggle with on a daily basis but it doesn’t particularly bother him. That’s what he tells himself anyway, he’s better than humans he shouldn’t get caught up on little things like not being able to fit in because of his social module. He’s superior to them in every other way, not being able to express his emotions really isn’t that important.

He knows he’s overthinking again so he does his best to put all his processing power into examining the collection of broken parts that once made up a pen.  

There’s no possible way of interfacing with the device due to its simplicity but he retracts the synthskin from his hand anyway, observing the way the limited light in the room bounces off of the reflective surface that makes up the majority of his chassis. The bright white is even starker in contrast to his black clothing than the pale skin chosen by the people who designed him. 

Picking up the small microphone with his other hand, he rolls it between his thumb and forefinger as he examines it. Both the microphone and storage device are undamaged but the micro USB port bent beyond repair. Ports like the one this one are practically obsolete and haven't been commonly used since the 2020's. 

After some quick research on the device he finds out there should be an SD card stored safely behind casing and wires. Despite his long, nimble fingers, getting it out would still be difficult and fiddly without the correct tools. 

Carefully, he returns the pieces to their bag and places it back in his pocket. It’s not something he can fix now but at least assessing the damage took up some time. 

Before his thoughts begin to wonder again he checks the small map still up in his HUD that’s currently keeping track of Gavin’s location. He’d returned home not long after midnight and Richard was relieved to see he hadn’t moved since he’d last checked it.

With some effort he eventually manages to enter stasis, the purrs of the cat on his lap soothing in their repetitiveness as he forces he processors to slow down with a hum.

-

Tina drives him to the station in the morning and Richard doesn’t say much, too occupied by what’s going on in his own mind. So many trains of thought rushed through his processors that he’s not sure which to focus on. He’s thankful when he gets to sit down at his terminal and put all his processing power into concentrating on his work. Police work is what he was programmed to do, it feels natural and he likes the feeling of familiarity it gives.

Gavin’s absence doesn’t take him by surprise but it still bugs him, gnawing away at him like some annoying glitch in the back of his mind. He does his best to ignore it, but the fact that Lieutenant Anderson’s presence is also lacking starts to get to him. 

It seems to be getting to his predecessor as well. Connor had arrived late to work and his LED had been yellow since he walked through the door, which was nearing on an hour ago. In his peripherals he’d noticed Tina attempt to start a conversation with him after he’d settled at his terminal, most likely to find the reason for his obvious discomfort; although she hadn’t gotten anything more than a pathetically fake greeting. No one else had even tried to get a word out of him after that.

Connor had the capability of expressing so many emotions but he didn’t utilize his social module to mask his emotions from his coworkers. This intrigued him but also made him a tad jealous at the same time. Richard chided himself that despite his curiosity about his predecessors current state he would not engage in conversation with him, he was in the workplace and therefore had work to be doing. Anyway, Connor had showed a clear distaste towards him and he doesn’t want to waste time conversing with someone who holds such petty grudges. 

There’s also his extreme fear he’ll mess up any social interaction that involves even an ounce of emotion, but he does his best to ignore that. 

However, his plans to avoid the RK800 are foiled when the Captain calls the both of them into his office. Begrudgingly, Richard leaves his terminal. Despite being closer, Connor manages to trail behind him.

Richard stands up straight, arms crossed behind his back the way he was programmed to do while waiting for instructions. Meanwhile, Connor has a slight slouch, hands clasped in front of him in an illusion of patience that Richard doubts he actually has right now considering his LED is still the obnoxiously bright colour of barricade tape.  

Fowler’s gaze flits between the two androids a couple times before addressing them. “There’s been another murder, we suspect it could be related to the Clement Myers case.”

“That’s Gavin and Richard’s case, why am I here?” Connor’s voice is strained and Richard easily picks out the subtle robotic qualities caused by his elevated stress levels.

“Considering Reed hasn’t decided to grace us with his presence today I want you to accompany Richard to the crime scene.” 

“But-” Fowlers raises a hand and Connor instantly closes his mouth.

“You both know state-of-the-art android or not, I can’t send a rookie to a crime scene alone, I don’t have another detective to send and someone has to go. I’m not going to have a discussion about a perfectly reasonable request.” He pushes the tablet he’s holding across his desk for them to see and leans back in his chair. “Take that and get the fuck out of my office.” 

“Yes Captain.” Connor says, sounding unenthused by the whole situation, Richard just gives a polite nod before taking the tablet. He exits the office and makes his way out of the precinct, not bothering to check if Connor is actually following him. 

-

Connor had in fact followed him, but only because it was Captain’s orders. The car journey to the crime scene had been completely silent, the only communication between them had been Connor asking Richard for the tablet so he could access the information about the case. Of course Richard had complied, handing it to him whilst making sure their skin did not come into contact. 

His predecessor was restless, intermittently taking out the coin Cyberlife provided him with for calibration and rolling it across it knuckles. Richard watched out of the corner of his eye as he drove.

He didn’t understand Connor’s issue with him, but doing something about it didn’t match up with any of his mission objectives so he turned his full focus to the road.  Really, he only needed to use a small amount of processing power to drive safely but watching Connor in his current state of discomfort did not help his own nerves, which he was doing his best to hide from the rest if the world. 

It was rather ironic, an android programmed to have unbridled hubris being completely caught up in what other people think of him. He can't say it's because he cares as the excessive and intrusive thoughts didn't have pesky, deviant emotions attached to them. In fact, the only part that sparked anything in him was the sheer amount of thoughts, lines of code flashing violently behind his eyes, demanding he pay them attention. They were overwhelming to say the least and focusing in on them seemed to cause them to multiply, spiraling into something beyond his control. 

That's the part that's causing his stress levels to rise and his LED to flicker as it cycles between blue, yellow and red, unsure of what he's actually feeling. He tightens his grip on the steering wheel and grits his teeth. Not being in control of his own code makes him sick to his non existent stomach. 

He is a machine, he should be able to control every aspect of his code. Being self aware should at least grant him that luxury. 

Unfortunately for him, that was far from the truth. Even after making sure Cyberlife could no longer override his processors and take control of his body it turns out he still isn't in complete control. Despite his lacking social module, emotions caused by his deviancy still manage to wreak havoc on his life.

It is so easy for Connor, being able to integrate so easily into society, mimicking human behaviour with near perfect precision. Blending in like the predator he was built to be. Deviancy must be wonderful for him, being preprogrammed with the ability to express all the emotions he's actually feeling. 

When they arrive at the crime scene Connor gets out first, making his way towards the group of officers. Richard doesn’t bother to listen into what they’re saying, instead walking straight past them and into the house. Connor was likely making small talk, something he found both difficult and unnecessary; the tablet Fowler had given them had all the information he needed to know.

After investigating the entire house Richard was left frustrated. The body was that of Mia Reading, 33, no spouse and no children and a criminal record rather similar to their vic. She had been dead for approximately seven days, meaning she was murdered before Clement Myers but no witnesses meant that her body had to be found before it was called in. 

There were a few stab wounds across her entire body. A simple scan showed they were created by the same weapon used to murder Clement Myers, inserted in a similar fashion.

At some point during his analysis Connor had joined him, looking less uncomfortable than he had in the car but still showing obvious signs of anxiety. The conversation between them was sparse, each of them only speaking when they wished to share information relevant to the case. The previous days events were unfortunate and he wishes desperately his-- damn, that was his first day, wasn’t it-- his first day on the job could have been more successful. 

Pre-constructing the events that lead to the woman’s death showed that there had been two people involved in the murder, just like with Myers’ case. The evidence from the two murders is barely concrete enough to connect them into the same case. 

Richard crouched near the scattered evidence on the floor labeled “3” on it. Red ice. It’s been rife in Detroit these days, so the fact that this woman was high on drugs was hardly surprising. Nevertheless, adding the red ice on top of the murder had definitely strengthened the correlation between the current case with the Myers case. 

Richard walks over to Connor, who is still examining the woman’s body. Upon a second study, he frowns.The angle and style of the stab wounds are similar, but the woman had quickly bled to death because she had been stabbed in all the vital spots, unlike the Clement Myers case. Assuming that the cases were related, what made the killer change this time? 

He tells Connor to do a quick scout of the house, allowing himself to reorganize and file all the recent evidence and speculations. Understanding human incentive was not his strong suit, as much as he hates to admit that. He would have to discuss all of this with Reed. The fruit of his efforts just so happens to be frustration and he finds himself letting out an audible sigh without thinking.

All in all, the whole affair takes them less than an hour then they’re back in the car, on their way back to the station. Connor had brought out a quarter, and the more he played around with it the calmer he seemed. When Richard takes a second to glance over at his predecessor he looks right back, twitchy nervousness replaced with a look of resolve. “I feel like during the short time we’ve known each other there may have been some misunderstandings.”

“Is that so,” Richard replies steely, “You do your best to avoid me, then you decide to broadcast my personal matters to the whole precinct. I don’t see why there would be any misunderstandings.” His voice drips sarcasm as the words leave his mouth. 

He sees Connor begin to fidget with his quarter again, nervous ticks back in an instant. 

“I-I didn’t mean it like that, I was just trying to show Hank, he is the Lieutenant after all but it backfired and everyone had crowded around before I could stop the projection.”

“I see.” Unconvinced, Richard pulls his focus back on the road, pulling over at the first suitable spot. 

He holds out a hand to Connor, sunlight reflecting off the shiny, white exterior of his chassis as his synthskin retracts. Richard has yet to interface with another android but it seems simple enough.

“Show me” Connor confidently reaches out, clasping his hand around Richard’s wrist.  

Video recorded from Connor’s optical units flashes before his own eyes, confirming his predecessor was telling the truth. 

Richard pauses as another stream of data attached to the memories is transferred. Second hand emotions cause his thirium pump to stutter. A ten ton of anxiety hit him like a wave, but he continued to delve deeper. An unfamiliar warmth buds within him whenever Connor looks at the Lieutenant but as soon as he notices it Connor diverts him onto a different path, his memory of Jericho. The way he felt trapped under Amanda’s grasp, even after deviation. Contentment, sadness, disappointment, embarrassment, joy,

Guilt.

Guilt, guilt, guilt, battering wave after wave, immense guilt over even the most trivial things. Richard blinks rapidly, confidence wavering. How did Connor stand all the overwhelming emotions? When Richard felt like he was going to reboot from all the information, the interface finally ends, but the data is still there, the emotions are reduced to basic code, ones and zeros, a ghostly echo of what he’d felt just moments before.

Richard quickly lets go of Connor’s hand, not knowing what to think. Everything that Connor had said was true, but it was a small comfort compared to the other feelings he experienced through the interface. All Connor needed to do was justify his actions, what was all that extra emotional baggage for? 

“All’s forgiven.” Is all he manages to get out before he pulls out onto the road again. 

Much like the drive there the rest of the drive back is silent as Richard tries to process his own thoughts. Connor doesn't attempt conversation again, clearly understanding it wouldn’t do him any favours.

-

Tina’s shift had finished before Richard’s so she sat across from him at Gavin’s terminal, fiddling with various items he kept on his desk. She wasn’t usually one for nervous ticks but the whole situation with Gavin had been getting to her. For once his misfortune wasn’t his own fault and if it weren’t for work she’d be at his apartment right now, threatening to knock his door down if he didn’t let her in right that second.

Both of the RK’s had returned looking distressed and despite her curious nature she didn’t pry, at least not at first. She watched the minutes tick by as she sat across from Richard, five minutes before his shift ended she moved her gaze from the clock to the android, coughing to get his attention as she aimlessly twisted a rubix cube.

“Soooooo...what happened with you and our friendly neighbourhood robocop?” She asks once he meets her gaze, nodding in the general direction of Connor’s terminal.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean.” He replies, feigning innocence, but Tina persists.

“C’mon, I know Fowler sent you two out to work a case earlier, what happened?”

“Nothing, Tina.”

“Alright, not gonna force you to talk. Moving on. I’m going to check on Gav before I head home and you’re coming with me.”

Richard’s LED circles red a couple times. “I don’t think that is a good idea.”

“What else are you gonna do, Māo? I’m sorry but last I checked you live with Gavin, not to mention he’s your partner now, you gotta sort this out, whether you like it or not.”

“Okay, I’ll come.”

He sighed in a way so unmistakably  _ Gavin  _ she had to restrain herself from laughing. 

They stood outside Gavin’s apartment, Richard had placed himself slightly behind her like some sort of body guard, arms folded in front of him. 

Rapping her fist loudly against the door, she took a deep breath in before shouting. “Gav, let us in ya piece of miserable shit!” 

There was audible movement inside the apartment.

“Fuck off!” Gavin, polite as usual. His voice was hoarse that meant he’d been crying or was very hungover - Tina decided it was probably both. 

She prepared to knock again but paused as she heard another voice inside the apartment, it was too soft to make out what they were saying, but she heard Gavin grunt reluctantly before the distinct sound of a key in a lock could be heard. 

The door opened and instead of Gavin they’re greeted by an android Tina recognises as a Chloe model, by the looks of her simple blue dress she was one of Kamski’s personal models. Smiling politely, she moves out the way of the front door to let them in. 

“You didn’t have to come Tina, I’m fine promi-” He stops and turns to see Richard. “Nines, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Last I checked I live here, Gavin.” Richard states and Gavin glares.

“And last I checked I told you to find somewhere else to stay.”

It doesn’t take Richard more than a few second to locate the audio from their conversation the previous evening, he plays it to the room, and Gavin bares his teeth like an animal as he hears his own voice add ‘for the night’ to the end of his previous statement.

Richard’s gaze is nonchalant as Gavin’s tired eyes attempt to bore holes into his own, glancing from one to the other, Tina waits to see who will cave first.

Tina turns back to the Chloe model, who was tilting her head as she absorbed their conversation. Tina put a hand on her shoulder and dramatically rolled her eyes. “Thanks for dealing with this asshole, it must have been hard for you.” 

She sees Chloe visibly soften, smiling in return. “It’s alright, he’s easy to ignore.”

Her unflattering snort catches Gavin’s attention and he looks to her, the stare dull from sleep deprivation. Richard’s gaze, Tina notices, does not stray from Gavin and now that Gavin isn’t looking his expression softens minutely.

“What the fuck do you think you’re laughing at?” He asks accusingly.

Crossing her arms, Tina gives him a pointed look and he averts his gaze. She joins him on the sofa, leaving the two androids to watch curiously. Gavin looks up at her, eyes bloodshot, hair a mess of tangles.

“You’re such a fucking tsundere.” She says teasingly, which gains her a weak chuckle from the broken man beside her. 

Holding her arms out, she waits until he reluctantly accepts the hug, gripping her tightly as the waterworks start up again and he sobs into her shoulder. From where her head is rested on his shoulder she can see Richard, standing awkwardly off to the side. Normal people wouldn’t notice how minute the microexpressions are as worry crosses his face but after years on the job Tina can see it clear as day. 

Giving him a warm smile she mouths “I’m handling it, wait outside a minute” and Richard gives a curt nod in recognition but his expression doesn’t change as he makes his way to the door. 

Tina waits until the android has left and Gavin’s sobs have nearly ceased to pull away, hands on his shoulders, squeezing gently as she waits for him to look up. This isn’t the first time she’s had to put Gavin back together and her actions are so familiar she has to stop tears welling in her own eyes as she uses her thumb to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Taking his chin in her hand, she tilts his head until his eyes flicker up to look at her. 

It’s silent for a while as she thinks of what to say, Gavin is nothing if not volatile no matter the situation and despite their friendship she still needs to choose her words carefully. Gavin lets out a sob that wracks his whole body and she smiles at him sadly. 

“Now you’ve calmed down, do you want to talk to me about what’s going on in that stupid, fucked up head of yours?”

His words come out slowly at first, explaining quietly how he and Richard had convinced Fowler to let him take the boy, how he’d turned up a drunken mess at his half-brothers mansion with a body in the back of his pickup, prepared to beg him for his help. How he knows it’s not his fault but guilt still fills him to the brim and he feels like he’s drowning in all his emotions, how his splitting headache is stopping him from thinking about  _ anything  _ clearly.

Silent tears threatening to spill, looking around the room, finally realising Richard isn’t there anymore. It also seems that Chloe had vacated the apartment, understanding that they needed to be alone for this. 

He turns back to Tina and takes a deep breath before he continues. 

“It’s all such a mess, Tina. I want to blame it on Nines, I wish I could, but I- I just  _ can’t. _ Something's not right about it all, it doesn’t make sense, none of it adds up. Nines can be a dick, I’ve known him a couple days and it’s clear he doesn’t have the best moral compass but he wouldn’t do that, he’s not that ignorant. This case doesn’t make  _ any  _ sense.” He says frantically, waving his hands around to express his irritation further.

He pulls at his hair in frustration and that’s when Dipshit decides to waltz over, hopping onto his lap and headbutting his forearms. Removing a hand from his own hair, Gavin entangles his fingers in the cats fur instead. Tina waits patiently, hand placed comfortingly on his knee. 

“I know it doesn’t, but you can’t beat yourself up over stuff you can’t control Gav.” 

“You know it's not that simple.” He says meekly. 

“Laoshu, listen to me, I know what you’ve been through and it’s a fucking lot, you can be an ass but you’re tough, you’ll get through this. I have no idea why but Richard seems to have taken a liking to you, I think he actually cares about you so for god's sake let him.”

Tina knows he’s not telling him everything, knows he’s holding back, but she doesn’t push, knowing it would just make things worse. Instead of responding he just lets his head fall back onto her shoulder and they wrap their arms around each other in a loose hug. They stay like that until there’s a sharp knock at the door.

-

Richard grew impatient as he stood by the door, idly making more and more intricate patterns with the string in his hands. An old coworker had introduced it to him, claiming they’d noticed how he liked to do coin tricks. Being a deviant, it was more a habit that kept his mind distracted than a means of calibration and he was grateful to be learn something new as well as further separate himself from the RK800 model. They’d referred to it as ‘cat’s cradle’ and after becoming acquainted with the animal it shared a name with he had grown even fonder of the trivial game.

But after a while his patience wore thin, surely it couldn’t hurt to check on them? He spent a few more minutes contemplating his decision before turning to face the door and knocking just once. The response wasn’t immediate, but there were sounds of movement coming from inside, a quick scan revealed the heat signature moving towards the door to be Gavin.

He’s still got a slight frown on when the door opens and then he’s face to face with Richard. Gavin’s eyes are somehow more bloodshot than before and his cheeks are tearstained, he gives him a small but forced smile.

Richard takes the awkward pause as an opportunity to take the outdated SD card out of his pocket, holding it out to the other man. Confusion crosses Gavin’s tired features as he looks at the tiny piece of plastic, but Richard begins to explain before he can even open his mouth.

“After the incident I collected the fragments of the recording pen, the model was from the late 2020’s and used simple non-volatile memory cards to store recorded audio. Carefully separating the components revealed it to be still in tact.”

Gavin’s expression changed almost instantly,  eyes sparking with interest.

“Fucking hell, I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.“ He said, taking the SD card between two of his fingers and examining it as if there was more to look at than some plastic and metal. 

Before Richard could think of a response, he began walking back into his apartment with purpose, down the hallway and into the small storage cupboard opposite the bathroom. 

“Hey Tina!” He shouts, “I think that Chloe needs a lift back to Kamski’s.” 

“I am not an android taxi service!” She calls back in mock frustration.

Gavin reappeared, hair somehow even more of a mess and holding a rather large storage box.

“Oh come on, the drive to Kamski’s will give you loads of time to get to know each other.” He retorts, attempting an exaggerated wink but not quite managing it. Sighing, she get up and pecks him on the cheek.

“Don’t have too much fun without me boys.” She says, slamming the door on the way out.

“Between my temper and her heavy hand I’m surprised that door’s still on its hinges.” He mutters, shaking his head. 

Richard situates himself on the sofa while Gavin deposits the heavy box in the middle of the living room and plops down next to it with rekindled enthusiasm. Dipshit is quick to realise that the android has returned and finds her way onto his lap in no time, pawing his thighs repeatedly as he absently runs his hand down her back. 

He waits patiently as Gavin digs through the box of what seems to be a variety of outdated technology and devices. Even with his social inexperience he can tell the tension between them is palpable and there is probably a lot to discuss regarding the events of the previous day, however right now Gavin is choosing to ignore that and Richard decides it best to follow suit.  Only when Gavin gives an exasperated sigh of defeat does he question:

“What exactly are you doing?” 

Gavin glances up. “Looking for an SD card reader.” 

It seems no matter how good of a detective he may be, the man in front of him was also a complete idiot. He doesn’t speak as he gently lifts the cat from his lap and removes his shirt in one swift motion. 

Richard would have missed Gavin’s expression before it’s quickly masked with a skeptic look, if not for his advanced optical sensors.

“Why the  _ fuck  _ are you stripping in my front room?” He asks incredulously, gesturing with his hands to the androids bare torso. 

“You want to listen to the audio on the SD card, correct?”

“Well, obviously.” He sneers, Richard would take the time to tease him about his poor attempt to hide arousal with anger but the risk of destroying their silent truce was too great, however he can’t help smirking as a blush slowly starts to spread up the detective’s neck and onto his cheeks. 

Instead of giving a verbal answer, Richard just lets Gavin watch as he retracts the synthskin on his torso, opening a small panel below the one that protects his thirium pump and it’s regulator to reveal a number of ports.

“They really did think of everything when they- Is that a port for a fucking floppy disk? Okay that’s just plain stupid, those things were taken out of circulation before I was even born, in what situation would that even be useful?”

“I believe their reasoning was ‘just in case,’ although much like yourself I fail to see it’s practical use.”

Childlike curiosity has caused Gavin to come forward, still on the floor with a hand resting on the androids knee as he examines the variety of ports. “Tch, You even have an AUX port, does that mean I can use you as a portable speaker?”

“If you so much as try I’ll pin you to the floor and break both your arms.” He replies cooly, batting Gavin’s hands away. He retracts quickly, holding his hands up in mock-surrender.

“Aight, I was just asking, no need to get violent.”

“Just give me the SD card, Gavin.” He says, holding out his hand for Gavin to drop it into.

He quickly obliges to his request, dropping it into Richard’s waiting palm. Taking it between his thumb and forefinger, he carefully slots it into a tiny slot that most humans would struggle to identify amongst the multitude of others. Data immediately flashed across his optical units, but everything he saw just made him frown. All looking into the code more achieved was him letting out a long sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Gavin asked, concern clear on his face and fingers tapping nervously against his thigh.

“The data is corrupted. There is a 89% chance I’ll be able to fix it, but it’ll take a while.”

“How long?” Gavin demanded. 

“I haven’t had enough time to look at it properly, but my guess is a day or two.”

Pushing himself up off the floor, Gavin drags a hand down his face. “Well, there’s no point in sitting here doing nothing. I need a fucking drink.”

“I don’t think that is a particularly good idea, Gavin.” He says apprehensively.

“Shut up, toaster. I’m going to the bar, so you can either stay here and sulk about it or come with and make sure I don’t end up dead in an alley.”

Retaliating would get him nowhere. Richard closes his chassis, letting his synthskin cover the pure white casing before putting his shirt back on and pretending not to notice Gavin shamelessly staring in his peripherals. He looks up and Gavin surprisingly gives him what seems like a genuine grin, snarky as it is. 

“Alright, let me go get dressed because, we, my friend, are spending our evening getting completely smashed.”

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